18 HVB homes have been assessed to have such serious deficiencies that they were forced to close last year. Now, the government and the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR) have entered into an agreement where SALAR will be tasked with helping municipalities find placement locations across the country. According to the Minister for Social Affairs, there are vacant places at HVB homes – but no comprehensive knowledge of how many they are or where they are located.
There is an overcapacity. We need to know where they are and in which category, says Camilla Waltersson Grönvall.
Around the Clock
Concretely, there will be a phone number that municipalities can call to get help. They will be able to do so around the clock, every day of the year.
If there is a young person who needs a place, it can't wait, it must be mediated as soon as possible, says Anders Henriksson, Chairman of SALAR.
The service will start as soon as practically possible, he says, adding that it may take a few days. SALAR will receive ten million kronor for the assignment.
In response to the question of why SALAR, which is an interest organization, received the assignment and not an authority, Waltersson Grönvall answers that SALAR has "unique networks".
It became a natural collaborative partner. And that there was already a function that aimed to support social services in our municipalities, she says.
The solution is to be seen as temporary, pending the establishment of a national placement function, which is expected to be in place in about two years.
The Police Sounded the Alarm
Last summer, the police sounded the alarm in an intelligence report that several HVB homes could be linked to criminal activity. The message from Waltersson Grönvall was then that the homes would be closed. During the autumn, the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (Ivo) tightened its supervision after new directives from the government. But in December, several of the HVB homes with criminal connections were still active, according to SR Ekot.
My message is still the same.
It's also why we've given Ivo other resources and other assignments where they haven't previously worked against welfare crime.
The police have simultaneously discovered more HVB homes with criminal connections since the investigation last summer.
When will the last criminal HVB home be closed?
It's naturally impossible for me to answer today. Now we continue the work.
