As others have noted, it’s true in some sense. I lived in worked in Malmö for awhile that has a very similar system, but not exactly so I cannot speak to minor differences but from my understanding it works similarly to Denmark. Yes, you get on the “list” from a young age. But it resets after the first apartment that you rent after you leave your parents house. So you might find a nice place but after that you need to start looking for another nice longer term place. It’s also not really as much required as it used to be. You can rent a nice place without getting on “the list” as there are places these days that do not utilize or care about “the list”. However to rent the nice places not on “the list” it is generally a bit more expensive and you have to show a bit more renting history. In general I can summarize it as follows: something like x% of renters (I think in Malmö at least it’s like 70%) use “the queue” or “the list” or whatever you want to call it, the thing referenced in your post. About 30% do not, and rely on more typical means of judging your rentworthiness. So if your income is a little on the higher side you would have no problem finding a nice room to rent without the queue/list.

Anyone in Scandinavia if I have pointed out inaccuracies please correct me. I lived in Scandinavia for some time but cannot say I fully understand the system.