World War II veterans may not receive the flats promised by President Medvedev in time for the 65the Victory Anniversary. Yesterday Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised to remove some of the barriers preventing war veterans from getting new housing. However, the money allocated by the government falls short of the real cost of the flats, and many veterans will not be able to move into the new flats before Victory Day on May 9. 34,000 World War II veterans are currently in need of new housing. However, Russia has failed to provide each with even just a one-room flat by 2010.
Prime Minister Putin said yesterday that all World War II veterans should be provided with new flats in 2010. "All veterans, whether they were on the waiting list for flats before March 1, 2005 or not, must be provided with housing in 2010."
"This is the right thing to do, and we will do it," Putin said during a meeting with the State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov. "We should discuss the issue and do our best to solve it for those veterans who weren't able to register for a new flat before March 1, 2005," the Speaker said.
"Of course we will back your initiative. What difference does it make whether a person was put on the waiting list before March 1, 2005? It is a purely bureaucratic issue, and veterans shouldn't have to deal with a lot of red tape, especially in the year of the 65th Victory Anniversary. So, the money will be found. Let me say that because the original plan only involves those veterans on the waiting list, we cannot say for certain that we will be able to provide flats for all the veterans by May 9," Putin said.
The President's press secretary Natalya Timakova told Interfax that President Medvedev identified housing for Second World War veterans as ones of his priorities immediately after inauguration and that "one of his first decrees was aimed at solving this problem." Ms Timakova added that "the President personally tracks the progress made in the implementation of his instruction to the government and he constantly stresses that the state will fulfill all its social obligations to the full extent in spite of any problems caused by the global financial and economic crisis."
Meanwhile veterans in many regions face a large number of barriers that cannot be attributed to the "consequences of the global financial and economic crisis". In the Chelyabinsk Region more and more veterans have waived their right to government housing due to the harsh terms of the offer. The regional deputy minister Valery Luginin told Uralpressinform that last summer about 30 veterans from cities in the Chelyabinsk Region turned down subsidies that were too small to buy a flat.
In reality Prime Minister Putin's and President Medvedev's declarations about "providing veterans with housing" mean that a veteran can expect the state to pay for 36 square metres of housing at the price set by the Ministry of Regional Development. However, that money cannot buy housing in every municipality. According to Mr Luginin, the veterans who turned down subsidies are prepared to settle for apartments under social rent contracts. "Given current housing prices, the presidential subsidies can only afford a place in a slum," the Chelyabinsk veterans' organisation Defender of Motherland told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Only large cities are really providing veterans with housing. Many regional capitals without municipal housing solve the problem by providing subsidies. The government allocates subsidies for every veteran: initially it was 350,000 roubles, then 450,000 roubles and now about 600,000. The money is allocated from the federal budget to the regions in proportion to the number of veterans in need of housing. The local administration may help veterans exchange a one-room apartment for a two-room apartment for a surcharge. The Russian Committee of War Veterans believes that "those veterans who turned down subsidies are making a mistake, because in the Russian regions where there is hardly any housing construction, veterans may have to wait for a flat for a long time without ultimately getting one".
"It's understandable why many veterans are not using the money, and instead opt to wait until housing is provided. Subsidies falls far short of the amount needed for housing even for the prices in their regions. The official price of one square meter for veterans is understated. It's below the average market price," State Duma deputy Galina Khovanskaya says. She adds that the rights of many war veterans who move from one region to another are violated.
According to the Ministry of Regional Development there are currently 34,100 war veterans living in substandard housing in Russia. Since March 1, 2005 only 4,300 veterans joined the waiting list for new housing. Judging by the current rate of housing provision under President Medvedev's decree On Providing Veterans of the Great Patriotic War with Housing, which he signed in May, 2008, the government's ability to fulfill these plans is questionable. According to Deputy Minister of Regional Development Sergey Kruglik, just 900 veterans had their housing conditions improved in 2008 and another 300 in the first quarter of 2009.
It is noteworthy that in the Soviet times the state provided new housing to whole families living with war veterans. Today it is just 36 square metres for the veteran alone. As a result many war veterans who require assistance end up living alone in one-room flats.
"Since the President issued his decree, 16 of the 139 veterans on the waiting list have died. Six more have turned down subsidies because they are physically unable to collect all the necessary documents and visit all the offices," says Anatoly Shapovalov, chairman of the Samara regional committee of war veterans. Mr Shapovalov added that many veterans have to pay extra for the one-room flats offered them.
The veterans are happy to receive these gifts, even if they require them to pay through the nose. Many veterans are puzzled by the strange thrift that puts such an important programme in jeopardy. To provide all the veterans on the waiting list with flats you would only need to build an average of 400 flats in each region, i.e. four blocks of flats with a single entrance. Such a construction project would cost at most $1.8 billion nationwide, i.e. about 10% of the 2014 Olympics budget or 7% of the cost of the South Stream gas pipeline.
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Many veterans may not live long enough to move into the new flats they've been promised.
Anastasia Bashkatova; Mikhail Sergeyev
