Homelessness in Russia
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Homelessness in Russia has been observed since the end of the 19th century. After the abolition of serfdom, major cities experienced a large influx of former serfs who sought jobs as industrial workers in the rapidly developing Russian industry. These people often lived in harsh conditions, sometimes renting a room, shared between several families. There were also many homeless people.
History
Soviet Russia
Immediately after the
By 1922, there were at least
After 1957, the USSR built 2.2 million units every year. Due to the institution of basic housing rent,[3] rent only made up about 5% of a family's monthly budget,[4] although in Moscow, the average family only spent 3% of their budget on rent.[5]
After the breakup of the USSR
After the breakup of the USSR and adopting capitalism,[6] the problem of homelessness sharpened dramatically,[citation needed] partially because of the legal vacuum of the early 1990s with some laws contradicting each other and partially because of a high rate of frauds in the realty market.[citation needed] In 1991, articles 198 and 209 of Russian criminal code which instituted a criminal penalty for not having permanent residence were abolished. Because most flats had been privatized and many people sold their last shelter without successfully buying another, there was a sharp increase of the homeless. Renting apartments from a private owner became widespread (which usually only gives temporary registration and the apartment owner could evict the lessee after the contract is over, or if the rent was unpaid). In Moscow, the first overnight shelter for the homeless was opened in 1992.[7] In the late 1990s, certain amendments in law were implemented to reduce the rise in homelessness, such as the prohibition of selling the last home with registered children.
Today
Nevertheless, the state is still obliged to give permanent shelter for free to anybody who needs better living conditions or has no permanent registration. This is because the right to shelter is still included in the constitution. However, this may take many years. Nobody still has the right to strip a person of permanent residency without their will, even the owner of the apartment. This creates problems for banks because mortgage loans became increasingly popular. Banks are obliged to provide a new, cheaper flat for a person instead of the old one if the person fails to repay the loan, or wait until all people who live in the flat are dead. Several projects of special cheap 'social' flats for those who failed to repay mortgages were proposed to facilitate the mortgage market.[8]
There exists Nochlezhka NGO acting in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.
References
- ^ "And Now My Soul Is Hardened: Abandoned Children in Soviet Russia, 1918–1930". Retrieved 17 September 2014.
- ^ "The homeless: down and out in the USSR". csmonitor.com. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
- ^ Clayton, Elizabeth. "Soviet Control of City Size". Economic Development and Cultural Change. 38 (1): 155–165.
- ^ Morton, Henry W. "Who Gets What, When and How? Housing in the Soviet Union". Soviet Studies. 32 (2): 235–259.
- ^ Morton, Henry W. "Housing in the Soviet Union". Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science. 35 (3): 69–80.
- ^ Johnston, Matthew (25 June 2019). "The Post-Soviet Union Russian Economy".
- ^ "Бездомность вчера, сегодня... Завтра?".
- ^ "Höjdestrand, Tova: The Soviet-Russian production of homelessness: propiska, housing, privatisation".