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Denmark reduces number of areas classed as ’parallel societies’

The number of underprivileged areas termed ‘parallel societies’ by the Danish government has fallen for the third consecutive year following an annual update.

Published: 1 December 2022 17:52 CET
Denmark reduces number of areas classed as ’parallel societies’
Mjølnerparken in Copenhagen is one of the housing areas that fulfils government criteria as a "parallel society". Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The updated list of ‘parallel societies’ and vulnerable housing areas was published by the Ministry of the Interior and Housing on Thursday.

The number of housing areas classed as parallel societies falls from 12 in 2021 to 10 in the new list.

Three areas were removed from the list (Aldersrogade and Tingbjerg/Utterslevhuse, both in Copenhagen, Agervang in Holbæk), while one was added (Askerød in Greve).

The number of ‘vulnerable housing areas’ (udsatte boligområder) and ‘redevelopment areas’ (omdannelsesområder) is also lower than on the 2021 list.

A ‘redevelopment area’ or omdannelsesområde is the new term replacing ‘hard ghetto’, used for areas which have been on the parallel societies list for five consecutive years.

The terms ‘parallel society’ and ‘underprivileged housing area’ have replaced ‘ghetto’ in the government’s official descriptions, after the latter word was scrapped because it was considered to be derogatory towards marginalised areas.

The lists are important because included areas can be subject to special treatment under Danish laws.

To qualify as ‘parallel societies’, housing areas of more than 1,000 people, where more than half are of “non-Western” origin, must fulfil two of four criteria.

Areas that fulfil the criteria are then required to take measures to combat parallel societies under a 2018 law originally titled the “Ghetto Law”.

The four criteria are: more than 40 percent of residents are unemployed; more than 60 percent of 39-50 year-olds do not have an upper secondary education; crime rates three times higher than the national average; residents have a gross income 55 percent lower than the regional average.

In addition to redevelopment obligations, areas on the list can be subjected to special treatment under the law, including stricter punishments for specified crimes and a requirement for small children to attend daycare.

READ ALSO: EU court to judge residents’ discrimination case against Danish government

The decline in the number of housing areas on the three lists is a positive development, according to Solveig Råberg Tingey, CEO of BL, an organisation representing subsidised housing associations in Denmark.

“The positive trend is the result of a lot of great local work over several years with efforts in relation to jobs and education and social schemes,” Tingey told news wire Ritzau.

“It’s very important that we continue this work in the coming years,” she said.

The list of underprivileged housing areas is updated every year on December 1st.

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PROPERTY

Home sales in Denmark sink to lowest level since 2013

The number of home sales in Denmark fell over the last three months to the lowest level since the start of 2013, when the country was still emerging from a protracted housing slump.

Published: 20 March 2023 14:35 CET
Home sales in Denmark sink to lowest level since 2013

Only 9,931 homes were sold in the last three months of 2022, according to the latest figures from the trade body Finance Denmark, the lowest number for 39 three-month periods. At the same time prices have fallen back to the levels they were at at the end of 2020. 

“The second half of the year in particular showed a marked decline in housing transactions,” Brian Friis Helmer, economist at Arbejdernes Landsbank. “The headwind comes from higher interest rates, higher energy bills and financial uncertainty.” 

Prices of apartments fell by 7.2 percent last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2021, while prices for detached houses fell by 6.3 percent. 

Bo Sandberg, housing economist at the Confederation of Danish Industry, said that this made Denmark one of the European countries which had seen the biggest falls. 

“We are pretty much only exceeded by Sweden,” he wrote in a commentary. “The peak of the price increases, which occurred during an exceptionally favourable and historically unique period in the housing market, has now been shaved off, and prices are back at the 2020 level.”

A survey of Danish home owners carried out by Finance Denmark in February 2023 found that a slim majority of 55 per cent expected prices to remain stable over the coming 12 months, with only 20 percent expected prices to drop more than 1 percent. 

This compared to 30 percent who expected a drop of more than 1 percent a year ago. 

Only 2.9 percent of home owners expected a fall of more than 5 percent, while 13 percent expected prices to rise over the next year, with 4.5 percent expecting a rise of more than 5 percent. 

“Energy prices have fallen significantly in recent months, and consumer prices are not rising as quickly as in the past. At the same time, more people have probably got used to the higher level of interest rates,” Ane Arnth Jensen, deputy managing director of Finance Denmark, said in a press statement.

“This may be part of the explanation for the fact that the Danes expect the future to be a little brighter, and many expect a calmer housing market in the coming year. But whether that will happen, only time will tell.”

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