More contact persons, fewer elderly homes

Norrköping is receiving more applications for contact persons, and 3 elderly care homes are to be closed down. The vocational programs are struggling to fill places despite good job opportunities, and IFK Norrköping took a major step towards a new contract.

More people want to become contact persons in Norrköping

Norrköping Municipality (the local authority) has received around 15 applications from people who want to become contact persons in just a few weeks. This is a sharp increase following Norrköpings Tidningars reporting, according to a social services officer at the municipality. A contact person is an assignment that the municipality facilitates, and it can take several years to get a contact person.

Norrköpings Tidningar

3 elderly care homes are to be discontinued in Norrköping

Norrköping Municipality believes that 3 elderly care homes do not meet today's requirements and will be discontinued in the long term. They are Skomakaregatan 11, Bryggaregatan 6 in the city centre and Ribbingsholmsvägen 3 in Skärblacka. Skomakaregatan 11 will be the first to close, with residents allowed to move into the new care home that is being built.

The municipality states that the buildings are too rundown or poorly suited to today's elderly care. Norrköpings Tidningar

Few are choosing vocational programs – despite job opportunities

At the upper secondary school fair at Saab Arena in Linköping, 21 schools from the region (the regional level) presented their programs. A principal at Anders Ljungstedts gymnasium says that the school wants to attract more students to its vocational programs (upper secondary education that prepares students for a profession), for example construction and civil engineering, and that demand for labor is high in the region. According to him, those completing a vocational program are most likely to have a job within 3 years.

A new regional report from Skolverket (the school authority) shows that the number of available places does not match the labor market’s needs. Before the 2026/2027 school year, 1 912 students in Östergötland were admitted to vocational programs, corresponding to 30 percent of all students admitted to upper secondary school in the county. In Linköping, 2 531 students were admitted to upper secondary schools, and 38 percent of them chose a vocational program. SVT Nyheter Öst SVT Nyheter Öst

IFK Norrköping took a major step towards a new contract

IFK Norrköping won 0–1 against Växjö DFF in Växjö. The match was decided by an extra-time goal and lasted 97 minutes. Växjö had to win to avoid relegation, while IFK could not afford to lose if the final round was to end in relegation.

An IFK player eavesdropped on Växjö DFF's pre-match talk, and IFK players disrupted Växjö in an attempt to win. Norrköpings Tidningar Norrköpings Tidningar

Disruptions on the E4 and road 796

A truck is stationary on the E4 between the Ödeshög and Väderstad interchanges in the direction of Norrköping, according to Trafikverket (the authority for roads and railways). Fallen trees are affecting traffic on road 796 between Törnevalla Kyrka and Gistad in both directions, according to Trafikverket.

Corren Corren

Café 59:an closes in Motala in February

The rental contract for Café 59:an in Gamla stan in Motala has been terminated, and the café is to close in February. The Kulturföreningen 59:an will remain, with plenty of activities but no premises. The chairman says he is ”fighting tooth and nail” to find a solution.

The association has gatherings with 50-70 people, and the majority live in Gamla stan, but people come from all over Motala. Corren

In brief

• SOS (the emergency dispatch centre) was alerted at around 20:00 on Sunday evening about smoke in a villa in the Mörkö area in Söderköping; it was an electrical fault in an electrical installation. Norrköpings Tidningar
• 10 new senior villas can be built in Borenshult in Motala, and the municipality is positive about the plans. Corren
• A stand-up comedian from Malmö is bringing his first solo tour to Arbis in Norrköping in the spring. Norrköpings Tidningar