Cut to the point of shedding the “particularly vulnerable area” stamp

IDB is synonymous with housing-integration dialogue and is a collaborative model where homeowners, the city, authorities, researchers, and civil society work together to reduce crime and exclusion.

Hjalmar Falck, project manager at IDB-Malmö, talks about all the improvements that have occurred at Seved in recent years.Image: Hussein El-Alawi

Seved with its four thousand inhabitants has been a mourning child for several years.

Criminals basically ruled the district, open drug trafficking occurred, dishonest landlords let the properties deteriorate, and rented the basement premises as housing.

All of this has made Seved meet the criteria for ending up on the police list of particularly vulnerable areas.

In the early 2010s, the municipality, together with the police, landlords and civil society, decided that the depression must end.

– Approximately 50 criminals ruled the area a few years ago. Today there are about ten left, says Hjalmar Falck, IDB Malmö’s chief operating officer during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Andy Roberts, head of the Malmö Norr local police area, confirms the positive image.

– On weekends and afternoons a few years ago we had to go out with two police cars. Otherwise, we would destroy the vehicles. Today he is much better, he says.

Some have applied for defector activity, others have simply disappeared, some more have been killed.

– It’s tragic because it’s about young people, says Falck.

In surveys conducted by researchers at the University of Malmö, residents testify that Seved has never been cleaner. Landlords claim that renters are staying longer, unlike a few years ago.

– And we also see that condos increase in price. A few years ago, it was almost impossible to sell a flat there, says Hjalmar Falck.

Last year, IDB Sofielund received an international award for its successful work in the prevention of drug-related juvenile delinquency.

It is the national operational department of the Police that decides which districts should be described as “particularly vulnerable”.

– I think Seved could be removed from the list, but we still don’t want it to happen too quickly. It is important to accelerate slowly so that development does not recede, says Hjalmar Falck.

As Sydsvenskan previously wrote, IDB projects have also been started in Södervärn, Möllevången, Rådmansvången, Triangeln and the hospital area, to avoid making those districts “particularly vulnerable”.

Andy Roberts, Chief of Police, Roko Kursar (left) and Karl Kronkvist, university professor and criminologist at the University of Malmö.Image: Hussein El-Alawi

– We must be proactive, says Roko Kursar, (L).

He is vice chairman of the municipal council and is part of the work program of the liberals Förortslyftet with the aim of eliminating vulnerable areas by 2030. Almost SEK 900 million are invested in the state budget for 2021 under the January agreement .

According to a proposal in the state budget, the National Board of Housing, Construction and Planning should also investigate the model around the IDB. Roko Kursar hopes it will result in a BID team. Inspiration comes from Germany.

– For example, in Hamburg, they have a law that says that if a district applies to become a BID area, then the different merchants must vote for it. If two-thirds say yes, then the remaining third must agree to help financially and in other ways as well.

In this way, it becomes mandatory for everyone to work for a better living environment.

– You shouldn’t be able to say “great that the owner is renovating his apartment building so I have a nice view, but I shit in the middle”. Everyone in the entire area will have to take responsibility together, says Roko Kursar.