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The Magnus Stenbock Hotel
Contact Information:
Mr. Maths Jesperson
Magnus Stenbock Hotel
S-252 23 Helsingborg, Sweden
Tel: + 46 42 123036
Fax: + 46 42 184 0490
The Magnus Stenbock Hotel is a consumer-run program located in Helsingborg, Sweden. Mr. Maths Jesperson, a highly respected consumer advocate in Europe, and a founding member of the hotel, believes that sheltered living accommodations should be neither for rehabilitation nor a part of conventional psychiatric services. Rather, sheltered living should provide a safe environment that a person can consider home. Jesperson believes that an individual living in a sheltered environment may require personal support from time to time, but prefers that such support be a more flexible form of rehabilitation and treatment.
Thus, the Magnus Stenblock Hotel operates without any ties to local mental health or social service agencies, and no professionals are involved in this totally democratic project. A local consumer group manages the hotel. Its board of directors is elected at an annual meeting and is responsible for all aspects of hotel management from fundraising to hiring personnel. A few consumers are employed to run the hotel and to perform the routine chores. Additionally, some consumers participating in an unemployment program volunteer time to the hotel.
The Magnus Stenblock Hotel was first established in 1989 when a local consumer group was operating a drop-in center in an old apartment building. During this time period, one of the group’s homeless members moved into one of the vacant flats. In exchange for his room, he volunteered his time at the drop-in center which permitted the center to be open in the evening and sometimes during the night. Over time, more and more homeless people began sleeping overnight in the center and, because of the inclement weather, it was too difficult to ask the persons to leave. But unfortunately, the drop-in center was not suitable for overnight stays. There were no beds or showers, and the day visitors started feeling less welcome.
Looking for a solution to the center’s overcrowding, the president managed, through his contacts in the business community, to secure an entire hotel at a highly discounted cost. It may seem quite remarkable to Americans that an entire hotel would be contributed for such a project, but in Sweden it is more natural for a community to feel obligated to integrate persons who are at a disadvantage. There were, of course, some citizens who were skeptical about the project’s economic impact on the community, but nonetheless the self-help group negotiated the hotel’s successful turnover with the owner and the Helsingborg City Council. The hotel was situated in the old town center of Helsingborg, close to the ferry boats to Denmark. This optimum location would allow the lodgers and the group members to participate in the ordinary activities of the city, and the central location represented a breakthrough from past trends to hide sheltered housing on the outskirts of town.
The hotel building was erected in 1898 but today is newly renovated with 18 single rooms. Each lodger has a single room complete with a full bathroom, a bed with linens and blankets, a writing desk, chairs, a mirror, lamps, a hair-drier, towels, and an alarm clock with a radio. Most recently, each room has been furnished with a refrigerator and a coffee maker. And if people want to furnish their rooms with their own furniture, this is also acceptable. All lodgers enter into a lease agreement with the hotel which is subject to termination with a 14-day notice by either party, but over the past ten years, only a few lodgers have ever been evicted for heavy drug use. Because the rules of the hotel are developed democratically, they are generally well-respected. People may live at the hotel from one month to several years, and no one is ever informed that as a part of her treatment plan, he or she must move to another level of independent living. Rather, tenants can move when they feel ready. This policy has resulted in a number of success stories.
During my visit to the hotel, I had the opportunity to meet many residents who struck me as proud and content to be living in the at Magnus Stenbock. Residents were comfortable and at ease and they interacted with one another in a caring and friendly way. As I was mingling with the lodgers, I realized that the Magnus Stenbock Hotel has taken self-help principles and practices and applied them to a hotel environment - very successfully.
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