How many are homeless, and how many are evicted?
Short answer: The National Board of Health and Welfare counted 27,383 people experiencing homelessness during one week in April 2023, against 33,269 in 2017. Just over 16,800 of them lived in an arrangement provided by the municipality, usually a social contract, and 745 had no roof over their heads. The Enforcement Authority carried out 3,510 evictions in 2025, the most since 2005, and 824 children were affected, the most since the count began in 2008. 90 of 269 municipalities worked with Housing First in 2025.
Every six years, the National Board of Health and Welfare counts.
- People experiencing homelessness
- 27,383
- National Board of Health and Welfare,
- Without a roof over their heads
- 745
- National Board of Health and Welfare,
- Children with a parent experiencing homelessness, at least
- 9,400
- National Board of Health and Welfare,
- Share men
- 68 %
- National Board of Health and Welfare,
The municipalities' social services and other authorities and organisations report everyone they know of who is homeless during one and the same week. The figure is therefore a minimum: anyone who has no contact with any of them is not counted. Homelessness is divided into four situations. The largest group lives in the municipality's long-term housing arrangements, the secondary housing market: social contracts, training flats and the like, where the municipality sublets on special terms.
| Situation | 2011 | 2017 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Acute homelessness: sleeping rough, in a shelter, emergency accommodation or a hotel | 4,500 | 5,935 | 4,436 |
| 2. In an institution or supported housing, due to move out within three months but with no home | 5,600 | 4,899 | 2,713 |
| 3. Long-term housing arrangement provided by the municipality, the secondary housing market | 13,900 | 15,838 | 16,878 |
| 4. Own short-term arrangement, with friends or on a short sublet | 6,800 | 5,726 | 3,209 |
| Total, including those who could not be placed in a situation | about 34,000 | 33,269 | 27,383 |
The earlier surveys counted 9,903 people in 1993, 8,440 in 1999 and 17,783 in 2005. The definition was broadened in 2005 and again in 2011, so those figures cannot be compared with the later ones. Nor are 2017 and 2023 fully comparable: counting only the respondents who answered both years, the total was 30,090 in 2017 against 27,383 in 2023. 2011 is rounded. Sources: National Board of Health and Welfare, Kartläggning av hemlösheten 2023, Hemlöshet 2017 and Hemlöshet i Sverige 2005.
Fewer evictions for twenty-five years, now more again.
A landlord who wants a tenant evicted applies to the Enforcement Authority. Applications peaked in 1993 at 21,566 and evictions carried out in 1994 at 7,615. Both then fell for more than twenty years, and since 2019 they have been rising again. Far from every application ends in an eviction: many tenants pay the debt or move out on their own first.
The national figures include both private individuals and companies. Per municipality, applications and evictions are available from 2021 and cover private individuals by municipality of registration.
The children affected by an eviction.
The Enforcement Authority counts how many children live in a home where an eviction is carried out. They were 387 in 2016 and 824 in 2025, the most since the count began in 2008.
A home of one's own first, then the rest.
Housing First gives a person who has long been homeless their own tenancy straight away, with no requirement to get sober first or climb a staircase of training and supported housing, and the support comes to the person's home. The government's strategy against homelessness 2022–2026 highlights the method, and the number of municipalities using it has grown. The bars show the share of municipalities that answered yes in the National Board of Health and Welfare's survey of municipalities.
Municipalities working with Housing First
Municipalities with outreach work among the acutely homeless
Stockholm and Gothenburg answer per district; the municipality counts as yes if any district answered yes. The municipalities' answers from Kolada, the shares are our calculation. The strategy: Regeringens strategi för att motverka hemlöshet 2022–2026.
Can it be compared with Europe?
Not fairly. The EU has no common statistics on homelessness, and countries count differently: some count only those sleeping rough or in a shelter on one night, others, like Sweden, also those living in the municipality's social contracts. FEANTSA, the European federation of homelessness organisations, has developed a common classification, ETHOS, but countries apply it in different ways. We therefore show no figures for other countries here.
Evictions per municipality.
The table shows the lowest and highest municipality, the middle of all municipalities, the country and the municipality you chose above. In small municipalities a few evictions are enough to give a high rate per inhabitant, so the figures jump between years.
| Measure | Year | Lowest | Middle | Highest | Sweden | Chosen municipality |
|---|
The middle is the median: half the municipalities are above and half below. Applications per 100,000 inhabitants is our calculation from the Enforcement Authority's counts and Statistics Sweden's population.
What the parties want.
| Party | In brief | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Centre Party | Wants to develop social contracts, measure homelessness the same way across the country and work preventively for children | Motion 2025/26 |
| Christian Democrats | Has wanted all municipalities with homelessness to use Housing First and the state to give SEK 250 million to the method | Press release 2020 |
| Liberals | Wants to use Housing First more widely, introduce a guarantee of a roof over one's head and stop evictions of families with children | Election manifesto 2026 |
| Green Party | Wants families with children not to be evicted into homelessness and municipalities to be obliged to counter homelessness and evictions | Motion 2024/25 |
| Moderates | No party position found. The government, led by the Moderates, gives SEK 150 million to the homelessness strategy in 2026, of which 123.5 million to Housing First | Government 2025 |
| Social Democrats | Wants to extend the national homelessness strategy, continue with Housing First and give children stronger protection against evictions | Motion 2025/26 |
| Sweden Democrats | Does not mention homelessness in the 2026 election platform. The 2022 municipal programme wants to work for Housing First for people with addiction | Municipal programme 2022 |
| Left Party | Wants Housing First to become the norm across the country, the homelessness strategy to be evaluated and no child to be evicted | Motion 2025/26 |
The parties' own positions in brief, from motions, manifestos and programmes. Parties in government or supporting it seldom table their own motions, so their position shows mostly in the government's decisions.
Where the figures come from.
- Source: Enforcement Authority, eviction statistics. Applications and evictions carried out nationally from 1982 and per municipality from 2021, children affected from 2008.
- Source: Kolada. Evictions and children affected per 100,000 inhabitants, population, and the municipalities' answers on Housing First and outreach work.
- Source: the National Board of Health and Welfare's homelessness surveys 1993, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2017 and 2023. National figures only.
- Our own processing: applications per 100,000 inhabitants, and the share of municipalities answering yes on Housing First and outreach work.
- Not included: the secondary housing market per municipality, which is not available as open data, and homelessness per municipality, which the National Board of Health and Welfare does not publish.
The housing shortage and the housing market are on Housing, social assistance and poverty on The safety net and mental ill-health on Mental health.