Örnsköldsvik has already imposed a housing ban on one of two properties where people are reported to be living without electricity, running water or functioning sewage. With winter approaching, the public value of the decision depends on more than issuing an order: the municipality also needs to show how enforcement will proceed and how people still living there are protected.
The municipal planning and building committee decided in the summer that one property may not be let for housing. The other property is subject to an order concerning its neglected plot. SVT reports that neighbours say people live in both houses, and that people are registered at both addresses.
According to SVT, the owner was not served with the decisions until early November, when police assistance was used. The owner now has three weeks to comply or appeal. Mattias Persson, head of the municipal planning and building administration, told SVT that the municipality may need to take further action on the second property if it finds that it too is being used for housing. A new decision with a continuing fine could be considered if nothing changes.
The owner has a right to appeal, and SVT does not report how many people live in the properties or whether housing support has been arranged. Those gaps limit any prediction about what happens next. They do not remove the central issue: where basic living functions are absent, a housing case cannot be treated only as a slow property-enforcement process when winter is close.
The next material development will be whether the owner complies or appeals within the three-week period, and whether the municipality takes a further decision concerning the second property.
Sources
- SVT Nyheter · Source date: 2026-11-10
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-10