High rents in big cities: what are the implications?
Living space is becoming increasingly hard to come by in many of Europe's big cities. Rents are rising and low and medium earners are being squeezed out of the market. Europe's commentaries take a closer look at the ramifications of this trend.
A soulless amusement park
In Copenhagen, square metre prices have risen by almost 70 percent over the last decade. Jyllands-Posten fears that this trend will make the city increasingly lifeless in the long run:
“Ordinary Copenhageners - nurses, teachers, bus drivers, academics in precarious sectors - are being pushed further and further out of the city. It is both a social and a cultural failure to allow property prices in big cities to skyrocket like this. ... A city where only the richest and tourists can afford to live becomes nothing more than a soulless backdrop. ... Do we want Copenhagen to become a kind of architect's Disneyland, accessible only to the wealthy? Or do we want it to go on being a city where children are born and all kinds of people live, work and grow old together?”
Sweden's housing policy favours the wealthy
The average waiting time for a rental apartment in Stockholm is ten years, which is why many people prefer to buy a home instead. But this is also no easy undertaking, Dagens Nyheter explains:
“According to a report by the Association of Swedish Real Estate Agents a young family in Stockholm may need to save for up to 30 years to be able to afford a down payment on a home. For the baby boomer generation who bought their own homes between the 1970s and 1990s it was just three years. ... A home is no longer a place to sleep, eat, love, care for and live in. In today's Sweden it's seen more as an investment. ... Another problem is the possibility to deduct interest payments from one's taxes. This makes it possible for homeowners to take out large mortgages, which in turn drives up property prices.”
No quiet place to study
The housing crisis is jeopardising equal opportunities and educational success, warns Clarisse Petel, a speech therapist at the Brussels-based social and health centre Cerapss, in a guest commentary in Le Soir:
“It's obvious that without adequate housing and the security of being able to stay there, the willingness of parents and children to learn will be relegated to the background. Our efforts to reduce educational inequalities depend directly on children's housing security and stability. In many ways, the success of social work is determined by how policymakers respond to the affordable housing crisis. The families we serve often have to accept substandard housing and few children have access to a quiet place to do their homework.”