What do people do during the 10 years they have to wait in line?
I'm surprised he managed to write how great housing in Stockholm is with a straight face as everyone knows how terrible this system is for those who can't get a rent controlled apartment.
Obviously this can work in your favor if you're a local and can get in the que when you turn 18 and hit the jackpot when you're 28 but not if you're a foreigner in your 20s or 30s trying to move to Stockholm.
You didn't say Swedish only workers.
By "workers", people on HN understand workers of all origins.
But instead of that lasting forever since their situation never becomes so that they can afford to buy a nice home, which is the case for many people, they only have to deal with that for 10 years at which point they get a lot of choices for nice homes at an affordable price.
It’s the same here in Denmark.
To put it into perspective; at 20 my friend bought a house in the suburbs — 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 0.3 acres; decent neighborhood, driveway for his 2 cars; etc. he’s not college educated and cuts trees down for a living.
Now try doing that in the Bay Area?
It's a bit funny to compare "Europeans" to some place in nowhere midwest and a friend that is almost certainly an outlier.
I'm sure you can find 20 year olds that can do the same somewhere in Europe.
You can look this all up.
While there are homeless and people in trailers, on average it’s because (a) they’re drug addicts who don’t want to live by their own rules (b) people living cheap, trying to get ahead or (c) Elderly, often inept, people who get trapped.
Trailer parks are particularly bad as they lock you into (effectively) renting. Outside of a few major(poorly run & corridor) cities, eg Chicago, SF, LA, NYC, etc the homeless rates are relatively low.
It’s largely that people are interested in particular locations. Not everyone can afford homes in that location, it’s fact of life.
That said, there’s zero need to be homeless in the US. In Detroit you can get a home for free if you promise to repair it.
Not trying to make a joke, that is the reality. Once you get off the waiting list it is essentially a guaranteed second income by subletting.