Original article (in Serbian) was published on 13/2/2026; Author: Teodora Koledin
We recently noticed a suspicious post on the social network X about an alleged Swedish experiment from 2019 in which homeless people in Stockholm were given $10,000 each. According to the author of the post, 72% of participants solved their homelessness problem and found a job thanks to the program. The same story was later reported by the portals Novosti, Blic, Kamatica, and Biznis & finansije. However, FakeNews Tragač received a response from Annette Karlsson, Head of Communications at the Stockholm City Social Services Administration, stating that “Stockholm did not conduct such an experiment.”
The description of the post also claimed that before the experiment began, “almost 90% of people were convinced the money would be spent on destructive purposes,” which allegedly did not happen.“One (homeless person, editor’s note) used the money to buy tools and became a plumber, another completed programming courses and now works in the IT sector, and mostly according to their personal inclinations. The problem wasn’t the willingness to work but closed doors…,” the user further specified in a comment.
Our editorial team did not find relevant sources confirming that such a scientific study ever took place in the Swedish capital. The portals that reported the story explicitly wrote that it had been conducted by the “city authorities” of Stockholm, and that everything was done “without any conditions, supervision, or rules.” This was directly denied to Tragač by the Stockholm City Social Services Administration. Moreover, Annette Karlsson added in her response that she believes it would even be “illegal” to conduct such an experiment.
About the homeless experiment in Vancouver
After several other (skeptical) users asked for a link to the study under the disputed X post, its author admitted that it was not an official program in Stockholm, adding that “there is a real experiment with CHAS transfers [probably cash transfers, editor’s note], but it was part of scientific or NGO pilot projects.”
However, the author did not specify which NGOs or scientists conducted such a project and instead referred to a similar experiment carried out in Vancouver.
Although that experiment is not fictional, the interpretation of its results and methodology has been significantly oversimplified. The researchers involved in it screened 732 homeless individuals from 22 shelters who met the following criteria:
- Age 19 to 65
- Homeless for less than two years (homelessness defined as lacking stable housing)
- Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- Low levels of substance use, alcohol use, and mental health symptoms, according to the Colorado Symptom Index (CSI) based on predefined thresholds
In short, people who had been homeless for more than two years were not considered as potential participants, nor were those with high levels of alcohol or drug addiction.
Ultimately, 115 participants were included in the experiment, 50 of whom received $7,500 CAD. More precisely:
- The first 25 participants received the cash transfer plus workshops and mentoring support;
- Another 25 participants received the same amount of money and workshops (without mentoring);
- 19 participants received only workshops and mentoring;
- The remaining 46 participants received none of the above.
It should also be noted that all participants were offered “financial compensation for completing surveys, a free checking account from a local credit union, assistance with obtaining replacement ID documents, an informational brochure with an overview of local social services, and a used smartphone.”
The results showed that the one-time cash transfer reduced the number of days spent homeless and increased housing stability, savings, and spending, without an increase in spending on “temptation goods” (such as alcohol or drugs). The transfer also generated net savings for society through reduced use of social services.
At the same time, the study’s authors noted that the benefits of the cash transfer were most pronounced in the first three months, and that most recipients spent the funds within that period due to the high cost of living in Vancouver.
Finally, the researchers pointed out a limitation of the study: its results may not apply to people who are chronically homeless or who have more severe issues with substance use, alcohol, or psychiatric symptoms, because the sample included a functionally more stable segment of Vancouver’s homeless population.
