To live to see your housewarming
Putin pledges housing for all Great Patriotic War veterans in 2010.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pledged to provide housing for all Great Patriotic War veterans in 2010, including those who were not put on the waiting list before March 1, 2005.
"All veterans, including those who were not put on the (waiting) list by March 1, 2005, will receive housing in 2010. This is how it should be done, and we will do it," stated Putin at a meeting with Boris Gryzlov.
The programme of providing veterans with housing is supervised by President Medvedev, who signed the pertinent decree In Pursuance of the Commitment to Veterans shortly after taking office in 2008. This decree suggests that all veterans who registered for housing before March 1, 2005 will receive new flats by the 65th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War (May 9, 2010). The government has decided to expand its commitment and provide all veterans with housing, regardless of registration deadlines. If a veteran lives in a cramped room, his living conditions must be improved, whether they managed to register before 2005 or not.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta contacted the Ministry of Regional Development to clarify the details of this plan.
Q: Who is eligible for new housing? If a veteran lives with adult children and the area of their housing already meets minimum standards, can they apply for a new apartment?
A: The federal government is responsible for funding the provision of housing to the veterans who fall under the presidential decree (see the Reference) if they are eligible for better housing and were put on the waiting list with a local government body. Registration criteria vary with each region. One of the main criteria is square metre per family member.
Q: Where should veterans apply?
A: Veterans can register with local government agencies. To be put on the waiting list, a veteran must submit an application to a local government office in their district.
Q: Will new houses be built for veterans or will the housing for them be bought from existing inventory?
A: The Federal Law on Veterans holds that regional authorities determine the rules of housing provision based on capability.
In towns and large villages some flats in new municipal blocks will be provided for this programme. In smaller villages other alternatives will need to be found, including housing from the current inventory.
Q: How big must new housing be?
A: Earlier a veteran was eligible for 22 square metres, but last summer the standard was increased to 36 square metres, which is almost the area of a standard one-room flat.
Those who have been on the waiting list since at least 2004 will see their housewarming before Victory Day, and the rest will receive housing afterwards, but in 2010.
Reference
Who is eligible for housing?
• Great Patriotic War veterans with disabilities;
• service members who participated in the Great Patriotic War, including those who did their military service at least six months in military units, establishments and colleges that were not part of the combat army between June 22, 1941 and September 3, 1945, as well as service members who were awarded orders and medals of the Soviet Union within the specified period;
• those who worked at anti-aircraft defence facilities during the Great Patriotic War;
• those who participated in the construction of field facilities, naval bases, airfields and other military installations within the perimeters of a front, operational zones of fleets, as well as at railways and motorways in the front-line areas during the Great Patriotic War;
• members of the transport fleet crews interned at international ports at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War;
• recipients of the Resident of Blockaded Leningrad medal;
• the families of service members, including disabled service members, who participated in the Great Patriotic War and perished in battle, were killed in other circumstances or died a natural death;
• the families of the members of Leningrad anti-aircraft defence groups, who were killed in the Great Patriotic War;
• the families of the personnel of Leningrad hospitals, who were killed in the Great Patriotic War.
Irina Nevinnaya
