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Malmö has been assigned zones. In the middle of the city, asylum seekers will be able to settle. In the second half, no, then you lose the daily allowance. “This will have no effect,” says Erica Righard, who researches international migration at the University of Malmö.
“More research is needed on asylum seekers,” says Erica Rigardh, assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Malmö. She is also an associate professor and researcher at the Malmö Institute for Migration, Diversity and Well-being Studies.
When refugees arrive in Sweden and apply for asylum, they can stay in the accommodation of the Swedish Migration Agency or choose to live elsewhere with the daily allowance withheld.
This right is regulated in the law on the reception of asylum seekers, which came into force in 1994. In the debate, it is called ebo, the abbreviation means own home.
– In 1994, the state was assigned responsibility for the housing of all asylum seekers, but it was not possible to have housing for all. It came for many. Then they brought in their own home, says assistant professor Erica Righard.
You have recently completed a research project funded by the EU called Glimer. He has compared the reception of refugees in Cyprus, Calabria in southern Italy, Glasgow and Malmö.
Then, in 1994, it was the war in the Balkans that caused the influx of refugees. Even then, Malmö and the other big cities in Sweden turned against choosing their own accommodation during the asylum period.
– He received a lot of criticism when he arrived. Not least of Malmö. Ilmar Reepalu was a strong critic of ebo, says Erica Righard.
The reason was that asylum seekers tended to remain in the metropolitan region even after receiving refugee status and residence permits.
– Many refugees applied to the big cities because there were job opportunities and a greater possibility to build social networks, says Erica Righard.
For ten years, asylum seekers who chose to settle elsewhere than on the premises of the Swedish Migration Agency, compensation for accommodation partly for housing and partly for subsistence. In 2005, a government investigation was conducted which concluded that ebo would decrease if the housing supplement was removed.
– The elimination of the housing supplement had no effect. Today, refugees only receive allowance per day, says Erica Righard.
Today, single adult asylum seekers receive a daily allowance of SEK 71 if they choose their own accommodation. If they choose to live in a facility where food is included, they receive SEK 24 a day.
More than half of all asylum seekers choose to seek housing on their own.
But how do they maintain themselves? Is it SEK 2,130 per month?
– You do not know. There is limited research on asylum seekers. More research is needed, especially considering that in political debate, great emphasis is placed on how this weather affects what happens next, says Erica Righard.
Now it has a new state regulation. entered by force. Asylum seekers lose the entire grant if they choose to settle in specially designated districts where overcrowding and social vulnerability are high.
The desire of the Malmö political leadership was to exclude all of Malmö from the ebo.
The county council of administration has said no to the exclusion of the whole of Malmö, but yes to the exclusion of half of Malmö from the ebo.
But during July to September this year, all of Malmö was really ebo-free. The reason was that the Swedish Migration Agency first agreed to exclude the entire city.
This confirms Erica Righard’s assumption that ebo zones don’t matter.
– One can ask the question: Why do so many choose their own home when there are construction homes?
According to her, there is some research and insight into why residents choose not to participate in the facilities.
– It is about the location of the accommodation, if it is isolated, perhaps in camping cabins. There is violence and conflict. Women testify to vulnerability. It is also about poorly managed housing.
What does not exist is research on how cities or residential areas are affected by the fact that many asylum seekers live there. There is also no research showing how things are for those who have lived in a facility, compared to those who lived in their own accommodation during the asylum period.
– We would need more research to have a discussion based on knowledge that is not based on repetitions of political arguments, says Erica Righard.
When it comes to the time after asylum, Sweden differs strangely when it comes to ebo, says Erica Righard:
– If you, as a refugee, receive a residence permit while living in a facility, you will be allocated accommodation in accordance with the Residence Act. If you live in your own home, you often don’t get any help. In other countries, you receive support depending on whether you have refugee status, not on how you lived during the asylum period.
A total of 1,154 asylum seekers live in their own accommodation in Malmö.
