SällBo, intergenerational and multicultural housing to combat loneliness

Toni Codina on 13 June 2023

Multicultural and multigenerational residential space to combat loneliness and promote social cohesion between generations and cultures. The social housing and integration project provides incentives and areas for residents to interact socially and in company.

The SällBo building, designed by the municipal housing company Helsinborgshem, is intended for people over 70 and under 25. It aims to create a new way of living where the generations can meet within the social life of the center. Beyond that, it is also designed to bring cultures together and promote social cohesion: some of the young people living there are refugees who arrived in the country as unaccompanied minors. The primary objective of the project is none other than to break the involuntary loneliness in which these groups find themselves, especially the elderly and young people who are beginning their process of integration into the host society.

In order to access housing in this building, which is made up of 51 flats for rent, the cost of which is around €400, it is compulsory –and signed by contract– to socialise with other residents for at least two hours each week. Tenants are selected individually through interviews, always prioritising the diversity of profiles and origins.

Characteristics of innovation

Link with the community, Adolescence and youth, Aging, Cross-cutting intervention, Homelessness and the right to housing, Mental health, New service, Self-management and participation

Localization

Helsingborg, Sweden

Partners / Funders

Helsingborgshem

Genesis

The SällBo building now houses this housing and social integration project. But it was originally a home for the elderly. It was in 2013 that the municipal public housing company Helsingborgshem bought it and transformed it into a block of supervised flats for the elderly. In 2015, with the massive influx of refugees to Sweden, it became a makeshift accommodation for unaccompanied minors. It was in 2019 when, following a process of dialogue with neighbours in the area – most of them elderly people at risk of loneliness – they decided to promote the project, which was completed in December 2022. As of January 2023, SällBo has become a permanent home.

Level of implementation

This housing model has proven successful and fulfills its objectives: while allowing older people to assist newcomers with language skills, younger residents can help them with new technologies and social networks. According to the residents, their expectations about the accommodation have been met and they are satisfied with the social interaction and the availability of communal areas, the main reasons why they chose to move to SällBo.

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Moods, promoting good screen use among teenagers and young people

Toni Codina on 25 April 2023

Community intervention project with a comprehensive approach to prevent risks in the use of new technologies among adolescents and young people and promote their proper use.

The Moods Project was born from the realisation that, in a modernity governed by social networks and mobile phones that change the way we live and relate to each other, new technologies pose new challenges and risks –such as addiction, pathological gambling, grooming, cyberbullying or social isolation– to be prevented. Specifically, it is aimed at adolescents and young people, as the name of the project indicates: mood is the English word that refers to the state of mind and is a colloquial expression widely used among young people.

The project is developed through a set of workshops and interventions that are carried out in secondary schools with the aim of promoting the good use of screens among students. It is well known that the use they make of social networks and new technologies is diverse and can have consequences on mental health. Through the workshops, participants reflect on and become aware of their use of screens. Thus, the project provides them with tools that allow them to identify risky and addictive behaviours. In addition, the workshops encourage critical thinking –allowing them to reflect on video games and online gambling, for example– and debate on the values that are transmitted through networks and on the need and importance of combining virtual leisure with live leisure. The project includes an impact evaluation plan that allows measuring and assessing the changes produced among participants through questionnaires.

The project has been implemented in the neighbourhood of Horta Guinardó, in Barcelona, and in Quatre Carreres, in Valencia, where a team of professionals has given workshops to young people aged between 12 and 16 in secondary schools in the neighbourhoods. Apart from workshops in secondary schools, the project also includes prevention workshops in leisure and free time organisations and training for families and teaching teams from the schools.