A catch 22 situation

I'm a contact person to a lovely woman from Eritrea, let's call her Ana, that has come to Sweden as a refugee. The contact was set up by an organization called SWERA (Swedish Refugee Aid).

I'm supposed to hang out with Ana, for her to learn the Swedish language and become more integrated in society. No more, no less.

Unfortunately that does not really work. Because when you become friends with someone, you get involved in their lives, and that is of course what has happened.

This is not a problem, but it does give me some insight in to how refugees are taken care of, by the state, in this country. Unfortunately it's not a very nice view in certain aspects. Bureaucracy seems to be a big problem. Understaffing seems to be another one.

The thing is, Ana had to move out from the place were she was renting a room in December. Since then the social services has moved her from one hotel to another, which is of course very expensive for the social services and very tiring for Ana.

Once in a while, when Ana forces them to a meeting to talk about the situation, they give her a note with the names of some companies that she could get in touch with to try to find an apartment. As Ana barely speaks Swedish she always has to ask someone to help her.

When we met last week I, for the second time, did the job of the social services by calling round to different apartment rental companies. As Ana actually prefers to live far away in a not very popular area I finally managed to find a land lord that said that they had available apartments in the area and that they would send an application form that Ana and the social services should fill out.

Yesterday Ana called me from the office of the social services assistant. She asked me to talk to the assistant which I did. Then I found out that the social services is not allowed to in any way guarantee that they will provide for Ana, as the money they give Ana every month is based on her being in school the month before.

"Can't you at least write that you will be paying for her apartment as long as she fulfills the requirements?", I asked. The assistant told me no with an almost embarrassed voice.

"But it's in your interest, as Ana living in a hotel is very expensive for the social services!", I continued.

Still embarrassed the assistant told me that she agreed and that Ana was not the only one in this situation, but that she (the assistant) had to follow the rules and restrictions.

"This is stupid!", I said. "You're wasting lots of the tax payers money. And Ana and everybody else in this situation are not happy. And still there is nothing you can write to give a land lord some sort of security?"

I bet you can guess the reply.

Talk about a catch 22 situation! What a waste of money! What a horrible way to treat people that are supposed to make a life here! How are they supposed to become integrated in the Swedish society when they don't even have a home?!