AbstractThis article analyses literary approaches to the relation between the folkhem, the Swedish welfare state, and the miljonprogram (a public housing program between 1965 and 1974 implemented by the social democratic government with the aim to build 1 million homes to solve the housing shortage). Since its initiation, this housing program has been subjected to critique addressing, among others, issues with quality and the promotion of segregation and social exclusion. Literary discussions since the mid-1960s have both responded to this critique and challenged it. They have questioned the impact of welfare politics on a still divided society by drawing on negative aspects of miljonprogram-areas. Recent texts that negotiate class and ethnicity, however, reclaim these areas with positive descriptions. They highlight their meaning as homes for a large part of Swedish contemporary society and thereby re-connect to the original idea of the folkhem – a home for the people.