The Housing Allowance Struggle: Waiting for Support While Living on a Fixed Income
Housing allowance is meant to take some of the financial pressure off people living on a modest pension — but for many in Sweden, it has become a source of real frustration.
Individuals aged 66 and older who receive their full pensions are eligible to apply for supplementary support through the Swedish Pensions Agency. Getting a decision, though, is taking far longer than it should.
The Ombudsman for Justice has criticised the waiting times repeatedly, yet the backlog keeps growing. Between January and October 2025, the average processing time for initial applications reached 106 days — up from 72 days the year before. Around 500 first-time applications have now been pending for six months or longer, and roughly 30 cases have been waiting over a year.
“Frustrated and Disheartened”
Hans Nyberg, 80, lives in Haninge, just outside Stockholm, and is one of those still waiting.
“You can’t help but feel frustrated and disappointed at an authority that can’t provide a clear answer,” he says. He is not yet sure whether he qualifies for the housing allowance, but he believes it would make a real difference to his daily life. To keep his finances manageable, he recently had to sell his car.
The Authority’s Perspective
The Pensions Authority admits that some of the waiting times have become unacceptable.
“Waiting two or three months for a decision can be reasonable, but when it stretches beyond six months, you have entered an unacceptably long wait,” says Denana Lövgren, acting head of the department for housing and income support. She adds that the agency is working to process cases faster, but notes that many applications arrive with missing or incorrect information, which triggers additional checks and pushes timelines out further.
There is one option for people stuck in a long wait: a so-called delay action. Anyone who has been waiting six months or more can request a swift resolution, which obliges the agency to reach a decision within four weeks.
Note: Hans Nyberg previously served as an elected representative for the Sweden Democrats in his home municipality.
