BOSTADSPOLITIK FÖR VEM? En kritisk analys av bostadspolitiska förändringar av hyresmarknadssystem i Göteborg och Amsterdam – från EU- till stadsnivå

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate EU policy on housing with focus on legitimacy and guidelines, and to connect EU policy with development on affordable rental housing in Gothenburg and Amsterdam. Both Sweden and the Netherlands changed national housing policies under EU influence during the last decade, which might have implications on available affordable rental housing and development of gentrification and segregation, which this thesis also aim to cast light on. The study is performed through critical urban theory and its socio-spatial perspective of cities as strategic places that are continuously (re)adapted to capitalism. Different kinds of policy documents from EU, Gothenburg city council and Amsterdam city council, as well from Förvaltnings AB Framtiden (representing allmännyttan in Gothenburg) and AFWC (representing wocos in Amsterdam) are analyzed through qualitative text analysis – a combination of thematic analysis and critical discourse analysis. The results show a discrepancy around guidelines and that discourse is used in policy documents to contribute to legitimacy. There are similarities between EU policies and city policies with uncertain causality. The policy documents from Gothenburg and Amsterdam indicate that they might be moving in different directions regarding gentrification, socioeconomic segregation and affordable rental housing, partly linked to changed national policies.