Swedish Minority Ombudsman Reports Rise in Housing Discrimination

20 November 2007

According to the Swedish newspaper The Local of 8 July 2007, the Swedish Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (DO) has reported an increase for the past year in the number of complaints about discrimination in access to housing based on ethnicity, with 43 complaints for the first half of 2007, compared with 60 for all of 2006.

Groups most likely to be discriminated against include Africans, Roma, Muslims, and Middle Easterners, according to The Local. The Local quoted a DO lawyer as stating, "We have come across terrible situations whereby people have become trapped in ghetto-like areas. They have often applied for hundreds of apartments in an attempt to get out of the areas in which they have been placed. It is a situation that breeds despair." However, The Local reported, none of the 314 cases reported to the DO in the past five years have resulted in a court decision.

(The Local)