Kristianstad

Housing

The municipality has a housing market with low house prices and one of the country's lowest rents. There is a great variation in housing: villas, ground floor flats or multi-dwelling buildings as well as ownership, free-hold and rental properties.

Kristianstad does not have any special housing agency. For more information on the choice and availability of accommodation and on the possibility of renting a home, contact the major housing companies. Many of them have a queue system.

If you are interested in building your own house or are looking for a house plot, the municipality's civic centre can help you.

Language groups in the locality

Arabic, Albanian, Bosnian, Finland Swedish, Chinese, Croatian, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Somalian and Sorani.

Associations and organisations

The Kristianstad municipality has a great social life with over 500 non-profit associations. The range is extensive and varied. There are also, among others, cultural associations, scout associations, carrier pigeon and gardening associations, and sports associations both at elite as well as youth and fitness levels.

In our association register, you will find a range of activities that the different associations offer.

For more information on starting an assoication in Kristianstad, please refer to the municipality's website.

What is available in the immediate area

The municipality's citizen centre can help you to find the right contact within the municipality. The staff at the citizen centre speaks several languages and you can also get help from an interpreter.

Shops

Kristianstad has a long tradition of being a city of trade and has recieved a price for its city centre. Here you will find the most common variety of shops, grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. The centre also has a shopping mall, and there are plans to build a commercial centre on the outskirts of the city. Moreover, there are many farm shops all over the municipality.

Libraries in Kristianstad municipality

In Kristianstad, there is a city library and 11 library branches, two borrowing stations and a book bus. Moreover, the city library has a newspaper reading room, where you can sit and read the day's newspaper, browse through the Swedish trade journals or read foreign newspapers in paper form or on screen.

Work and welfare (social)

If you need support, help and advice, the municipality can help you in various ways.

Both the Social Insurance Agency and the Tax Agency have offices in Kristianstad and in the offices of the Swedish Employment Service in Kristianstad, you can receive more informationen on work and studies (the information is available in several languages).

Childcare

Newly arrived families that come to Kristianstad come in contact with preschool and primary and lower secondary school through the municipality's organisation, Slussen.

There is a preschool in Kristianstad for children between the age of 1 to 5, a after school centre for children from grade 1 to the spring term of the year they turn 13. The leisure-time centres are open before and after school time and on holidays. Pedagogical care is also available as an alternative to preschool or leisure-time centre and is intended for children of the same age. Kristianstad has, among others, preschools that are focused on outdoor pedagogy and preschools that are open through the night for children whose parents work during the evening or night.

The newly arrived in Kristianstad receive help from the municipality through Slussen, to come in contact with child-care.

Compulsory schools and upper secondary schools

In Kristianstad, the preschool class is offered to children who are six years old or more. Some of the municipal schools have chosen to profile themselves in specific areas such as sports, culture, image, sustainable development, technology, entrepreneurship and Montessori.

Kristianstad has 12 upper secondary schools of which five are municipal and seven are independent. The five municipal schools together, offer 17 of the total 18 national upper secondary programmes. There is also a nationally approved sports education programme with focus on football and hand ball, and a national upper secondary school for young people with physical disabilities.

In Kristianstad, there is a compulsory school for children with cognitive disabilities, catering to students with autism and multi-function variation, and an upper secondary school for children with learning disabilities.

Mother tongue teaching

Mother tongue is a separate subject in the primary and lower secondary school as well as the upper secondary school, with a separate curriculum.

Education opportunities

In the Kristianstad municipality, there is a variety of alternatives for those who want to learn throughout their life. The municipality works actively to increase knowledge among adults, in order to be better at matching the competence required by trade and industry.

For those between the age of 18 and 64, who are new to Sweden and have an establishment plan or are a family member of an immigrant and were registered in a municipality for the first time after May 1, 2013, social orientation is offered. Social orientation is provided in your mother tongue and enables you to establish yourself in the Swedish work and social life. It provides knowledge on your rights and duties in the areas such as work life, education and health.

The municipality offers education in Swedish to immigrants; read more on the municipality's homepage on how you can register yourself.

Guidance and learning centre offers help through study and vocational guidance. Here, you can also ask questions on validation.

Vuxenutbildningen (Adult education), offers a great variety of courses to adults.

Higher vocational education and training is a type of education provided at a post-secondary level. These are tailor-made courses in collaboration with trade and industry. Theory is combined with practice. In most cases, you get a workplace experience. Higher vocational courses are free of cost and you have the right to receive study allowance from CSN.

Apprentice academy in Skåne Northeast offers apprenticeship for adults.
In Kristianstad, the university college Kristianstad Högskola is known for its courses in economics, psychology and gastronomy and its dental hygiene programme but offers many more educational programmes and courses.

Folkuniversitetet (Public university)

Folkuniversitetet (Public university) offers various educational and preparatory courses. Korta vägen (shortcut) is intended for those who have an academic education from another country.

The AMS vocational training courses for the unemployed (Arbetsmarknadsutbildningen) are meant for the long-term unemployed, within the job and development guarantee program, or the unemployed youth within the job guarantee program.

Health and medical care

In Skåne, the Skåne region is responsible for healthcare. On their homepage, you can find and compare healthcare in the whole of Skåne. Contact information of both private and public healthcare centres, maternity clinics, children's clinics, emergency wards and dental clinics, is available.

Interpreter assistance

With all contact with the authorities, the municipality and health services, you are entitled to interpreting help if you do not speak or understand Swedish. This is booked in advance of the actual meeting.

Public transport

You can quickly reach Kristianstad from Blekinge or Denmark by train. There is a central station in central Kristianstad and local train stations in Önnestad and Fjälkinge. Adjacent to the central station, there is a good bus connectivity within Kristianstad and between places within and outside the municipality.

Skånetrafiken is responsible for train and bus services in Kristianstad. Timetables are available on their website.

Work and entrepreneurship

The municipality is a big employer with nearly 6,000 employees. You can find job vacancies on the municipality's homepage. On the website, you can also get help finding the service which it offers to businesses in the municipality and tips on where to find information if you want to start and run a business in the Kristianstad municipality.