A Monstrous Hybrid: A comment on Brett Christophers´ interpretation of Swedish housing policy.

In this comment it is argued that Christophers´ misunderstands the nature of the post war housing model in Sweden. This was actually a market friendly model where rent and price regulations were seen as something temporary and that an increase in supply was the most important policy. It is further argued that it is a mistake to describe the development in recent decades as a move towards a neoliberal model. Even if there are no state subsidies, there still is a municipal planning monopoly that reduce the supply of land. Municipalities have become more and more restrictive towards new construction, and a combination of NIMBYarguments and environmental demands have especially reduced the number of housing projects targeting households with lower incomes.