Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market

In Western European economies generally, and in Sweden in particular, public housing has been a mechanism that states use to combat inequality. However, housing researchers point to the increased residualisation of public housing across Europe. Scholars have also acknowledged the increased precariou...

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Main Authors: Jennie Gustafsson, Ida Borg
Format: Article
Language:Norwegian
Published: Scandinavian University Press 2025-08-01
Series:Tidsskrift for boligforskning
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Online Access:https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/tfb.8.1.4
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author Jennie Gustafsson
Ida Borg
author_facet Jennie Gustafsson
Ida Borg
author_sort Jennie Gustafsson
collection DOAJ
description In Western European economies generally, and in Sweden in particular, public housing has been a mechanism that states use to combat inequality. However, housing researchers point to the increased residualisation of public housing across Europe. Scholars have also acknowledged the increased precariousness among private renters. Yet, few studies have investigated residualisation in both the public and private rental sectors while grounding this process in its urban context. Addressing this lacuna, the article explores how public and private rental housing have changed spatially and how this change ties into the residualisation process in Malmö, Sweden. We identify how a diversification ambition has spread the public housing sector evenly throughout the city while this sector has undergone a residualisation process, especially in so-called “less attractive” suburban areas. Meanwhile, private renting has increased in some of these “less attractive” areas, and the private rental sector has grown in the city since 2011. Concomitantly, we find a downturn in poverty among private renters after 2012, especially at a suburban level, which we link to private rental owners’ use of rent-increasing measures and stricter rental policies. In conclusion, the article argues, first, that residualisation studies need to explore shifts in both public housing and private renting. Second, it argues that studies of rental market change and its outcomes, framed within a rental system conceptualisation, benefit from being grounded in urban analysis.
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issn 2535-5988
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spelling doaj-art-207fd137cc99447f9f6bdb46a1f7dea92025-08-20T06:36:42ZnorScandinavian University PressTidsskrift for boligforskning2535-59882025-08-0181406010.18261/tfb.8.1.4Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental MarketJennie Gustafsson0Ida Borg1Department of Urban Studies, Malmö UniversityDepartment of Human Geography, Stockholm UniversityIn Western European economies generally, and in Sweden in particular, public housing has been a mechanism that states use to combat inequality. However, housing researchers point to the increased residualisation of public housing across Europe. Scholars have also acknowledged the increased precariousness among private renters. Yet, few studies have investigated residualisation in both the public and private rental sectors while grounding this process in its urban context. Addressing this lacuna, the article explores how public and private rental housing have changed spatially and how this change ties into the residualisation process in Malmö, Sweden. We identify how a diversification ambition has spread the public housing sector evenly throughout the city while this sector has undergone a residualisation process, especially in so-called “less attractive” suburban areas. Meanwhile, private renting has increased in some of these “less attractive” areas, and the private rental sector has grown in the city since 2011. Concomitantly, we find a downturn in poverty among private renters after 2012, especially at a suburban level, which we link to private rental owners’ use of rent-increasing measures and stricter rental policies. In conclusion, the article argues, first, that residualisation studies need to explore shifts in both public housing and private renting. Second, it argues that studies of rental market change and its outcomes, framed within a rental system conceptualisation, benefit from being grounded in urban analysis.https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/tfb.8.1.4Public housingprivate rental housingresidualisationfinancialisationSweden
spellingShingle Jennie Gustafsson
Ida Borg
Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market
Tidsskrift for boligforskning
Public housing
private rental housing
residualisation
financialisation
Sweden
title Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market
title_full Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market
title_fullStr Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market
title_full_unstemmed Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market
title_short Residualisation Localised: Suburban Poverty Trends in Malmö’s Rental Market
title_sort residualisation localised suburban poverty trends in malmo s rental market
topic Public housing
private rental housing
residualisation
financialisation
Sweden
url https://www.scup.com/doi/10.18261/tfb.8.1.4
work_keys_str_mv AT jenniegustafsson residualisationlocalisedsuburbanpovertytrendsinmalmosrentalmarket
AT idaborg residualisationlocalisedsuburbanpovertytrendsinmalmosrentalmarket