Køge municipality has locked in a binding four-year framework with all local housing associations that requires new tenants in certain “red” public-housing estates to meet at least one of four socio-economic criteria, and those criteria run to end-2028 independently of any political decision on rent regulation.
The political fight over whether Køge should scrap Denmark’s rent regulation law has dominated local headlines. But buried in a technical agreement signed in December 2024 and quietly posted on a housing association website is a more immediate barrier for anyone trying to rent in Denmark. The rammeaftale took effect on January 1 this year and runs through 2028. It divides all public-housing estates in Køge into red, yellow and green categories. In so-called red departments, every vacant flat can only be let to households where at least one adult meets one of four criteria: fixed work of at least 25 hours per week, monthly gross income of 23,000 DKK or higher, full-time studies on an approved programme listed on ug.dk, or age 65 or older.
A triple bind for internationals
The timing matters because Køge is expensive and getting more so. According to Finans Danmark’s Boligmarkedsstatistik, average house prices in the municipality reached 24,861 DKK per square metre in the first quarter of 2026. That is roughly one third higher than the national average of 18,626 DKK per square metre. It also marks a rise of around 6,800 DKK per square metre since 2016, an increase of 35 to 40 percent over a decade. For an 80 square metre flat, that translates to a paper price jump of about 500,000 DKK in ten years.
Those numbers push most newcomers into the rental market. But the same people who cannot yet afford to buy often struggle to meet the new public-housing thresholds. Part-time workers, trailing spouses, PhD fellows on stipends, and international students on non-SU-eligible English programmes are among the groups likely to find themselves unable to qualify for red estates, even if they hold valid permits and are actively searching for housing. The rammeaftale applies both to flats the housing association lets via its own waiting list and to dwellings the municipality allocates for social cases.
Work hours that many expats do not have
The 25-hour rule is particularly blunt. Denmark issues residence permits for study, research and work that often carry their own restrictions on weekly hours. International students outside the Danish system may hold part-time jobs to cover living costs but rarely reach 25 contracted hours while studying full-time. Researchers on fixed-term fellowships are typically salaried but do not always meet the 23,000 DKK gross threshold in their first contract year. And partners who arrive on a spouse or cohabitant permit frequently spend months building a CV and a network before landing stable employment. Under the new agreement, those groups are likely to be unable to qualify for a red estate until they cross the work or income line.
Green estates remain open to everyone under normal waiting-list rules, as confirmed by the rammeaftale and a summary published by BL, Danmarks Almene Boliger. However, the rammeaftale itself does not include a visual map identifying which developments are red and which are green, meaning applicants will typically need to contact housing associations directly to confirm whether a specific flat falls under the flexible criteria.
The rent regulation debate runs in parallel
Meanwhile, the separate political process on whether Køge should remain under Denmark’s Boligreguleringsloven continues. According to Liberal Alliance Køge’s published housing policy, the municipality currently has a share of public housing above the national average, and the party argues that removing rent regulation will attract private investment and encourage renovation. Tenant advocates counter that scrapping rent caps typically pushes initial contract rents higher and accelerates gentrification in older stock, exactly the segment where many internationals rely on regulated rates to stay afloat.
What neither side has highlighted in public is that the rammeaftale already operates independently of that decision. Even if the council votes to keep Boligreguleringsloven in place, the income and work filters in red public-housing estates will run through December 2028 unless the municipality formally renegotiates the contract.
A residence permit is necessary but not enough
Køge does offer a municipal allocation route for acute housing need combined with social or health problems. As reported by Køge Municipality’s Den boligsociale anvisning page, the scheme is open to anyone registered in Køge with a valid Danish residence permit who cannot solve their housing situation in a reasonable way. Refugees meeting the legal definition in the Integration Act can also apply. But the threshold is high. The municipality assesses each case holistically, looking at economic, social and health circumstances. It is not a general waiting list. It is a safety net for people in crisis.
For everyone else, the practical advice is to target green estates, check whether your income or study status meets the flexible criteria before applying to red ones, and be ready to document every work hour and salary slip. The official guidance exists only in Danish, though browser translation tools make it navigable. Housing associations listed in the rammeaftale include Boligselskabet KBS and others whose waiting-list rules are online but not always easy to parse for non-Danish speakers.
National law tightens at the same time
The national picture has also shifted. In 2021, the Folketing adopted Bill L 9, amending the rules so that mandatory residence obligations for new dwellings designated as helårsboliger in local plans take effect as soon as an occupancy permit is issued, even a temporary one. According to the bill’s explanatory notes, this closes a loophole that had allowed new full-year residences to be used as holiday homes or left empty. For municipalities that have activated Boligreguleringsloven, this makes it harder to leave new helårs dwellings empty or use them for non-residential purposes. But it does nothing to help someone who meets the residence requirement yet still cannot access a flat because they work 20 hours instead of 25.
The integration subtext
Køge’s rammeaftale is explicit about its goal: preventing estates from appearing on Denmark’s official parallelsamfund list of vulnerable neighbourhoods and promoting a socially sustainable resident mix. That language situates housing policy inside the country’s broader political debate on integration. Instead of investing in estates that risk being labeled ghettos, the municipality now filters who can move in. The question for internationals is whether a system designed to avoid stigma ends up creating a different kind of exclusion, one measured in work hours and pay slips rather than postcode.
The agreement runs for four years. By the time it expires at the end of 2028, an entire cohort of people who arrived in Køge between 2025 and 2028 will have navigated a housing market where the formal rules say one thing and the practical filters say another. Whether the political debate on rent regulation even matters by then depends on whether you had the right contract and the right number of hours in the first place.
