There are a total of 188 apartments that belong to Arkadia Bostad.
There are 59 vacant apartments in this newly built area of northern Kåge.
Despite this, the neighbourhood still looks well maintained and quite busy, with residents picking up their mail and others leaving in cars. On average, each residential block has 1-2 empty units. However, more vacant windows are expected, as ex-Northvolt tenants leave the area.
Ijlal Hasnain is one of those moving. By the time you read this, he will have left Skellefteå municipality where he enjoyed both the home in Kåge and his job at Nothvolt.
Fortunately, he has lived with two friends, so there are three of them who will be able to share the hefty three-month notice termination fee. One month has already passed, and they have to pay for two more months even though they are moving on and won't be using the home.
– All three of us lost our jobs and are now moving. Two of us are going to Gothenburg and one is moving to Stockholm.
Since he received the notice of dismissal, Ijlal has been looking for new jobs in Skellefteå, but says that it is hopeless when you don't know Swedish and are non-European. Ijlal is from Pakistan.
– I have previously studied in Gothenburg and will return to the same home I had then. I don't have a job yet, but I'm looking. It will feel a little sad when I lock the door here and leave. But that's life.
Ijlal Hasnain is leaving Kåge.
One resident of the area who still works at Northvolt is Hashim Ashraf. He mentions that many of his friends have moved away, but he will stay as long as he has a job. If he loses it, he plans to relocate to a larger city.
–This apartment is the first I've had since arriving and starting at Northvolt in February, so it feels like home.
He also mentions the three-month notice period, which feels like a threat when job security is so uncertain.
– I know people who are cancelling first-hand contracts to move into second-hand apartments with shorter notice periods, he says.
The residential area consists of grey and green buildings that were built in stages a few years ago. The last section opened for occupancy in March 2024.
The future of this newly built residential area appears uncertain, at least in the short term.
There are 188 apartments, and roughly a third will become vacant in the next few months. Riksbyggen, the company managing the properties, has struggled to generate interest despite attempts to market them.
– But there has been zero interest, says Maritha Nordström, marketing area manager.