Kel, the problem here is not that Sweden wants to help people; the problem is that other countries, like your own Norway, are not doing enough. As a Swede, with a job and a place to live, this influx of refugees will have very little real impact on me. Yes, I may have to pay a few hundred extra kronor in taxes down the line, but it is still a very, very minor impact.
Sweden is per capita the country which accepts the most refugees. If every country behaved like Sweden, was welcoming to these people fleeing for their lives and accepted them with respect, then this crisis could be met and dealt with in a much better way than what we see.
Now, I am not naive enough to think that this influx of people will not bring its own set of problems. Already before this crisis arrived we, as a country, struggled with housing. I would even say it was, and is, THE problem. At the rate that refugees are now coming, this problem is magnified. To make this matter worse, we then have the stupid laws and regulations involved here which state that no one who does not have a permanent place of residence is allowed to look for work. It means that we, literally, have thousands of people who WANT to work, who WANT to integrate in society who are actively stopped from doing so.
Politically things can, and need, to change here; the regulations contractors have to work within for building homes are so strict that it is quite ridiculous. That has to change. Then, of course, contractors need to be encouraged and persuaded to build houses that are affordable to people with low incomes. That is currently not happening, at all basically, because room for profit is lower. Again, it is all about the money, and I find that appalling. A lot also needs to be done to put people to work. People who don't work, side by side with other Swedes, are always going to struggle to integrate in society. Generally, I think we do this very poorly, and there are measures that can quite easily be taken to create low skill, meaningful jobs instead of having people living segregated on welfare benefits.
Things are far from perfect, but IMO it is a hell of a lot better to actually TRY to help people fleeing from war and try to find solutions to make it work, than to put the resources we have into putting elaborate plans in place to shut people out.
