Million Programme

The Million Programme (Swedish: Miljonprogrammet) was a large public housing programme implemented in Sweden between 1965 and 1974 by the governing Swedish Social Democratic Party to ensure the availability of affordable, high-quality housing to all Swedish citizens. The programme sought to construct one million new housing dwellings over a ten-year period, which it accomplished. As part of its intention to modernise Swedish housing, it also demolished many older buildings that national and local governments considered obsolescent, unhealthy or derelict. At the time, the intention to build one million new homes in a nation with a population of eight million made the Million Programme the most ambitious building programme in the world. In contrast to the social housing proposals of many other developed countries, which is targeted at those with low incomes, the Million Programme was a universal programme intended to provide housing to Swedish people at a variety of income levels.