17 июня 2007 Года
June 17, 2007. ADDITIONAL FUNDS SET ASIDE FOR HOUSING
 A new Housing Fund has been approved in the first reading by Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
The fund will initially be endowed with a sum of approximately 240 billion rubles, or about 9 billion U.S. dollars. Around 95 billion rubles will be used to relocate citizens in various parts of Russia from old and dilapidated buildings, while about 145 billion has been set aside for repairs to existing housing. These targets are in line with the goals set out by the President of Russia in his annual State of the Nation address.
While the first 10 billion rubles are already expected to be spent this year, Russia’s regions will have to earn the new housing money by meeting specific guidelines set out by federal law. Certain limits will be placed on how much funding a region can receive, based on the total amount of housing available on that region’s territory and on local budgetary constraints.
A major problem facing several regions is the lack of comprehensive data on the total amount of housing in need of repair or reconstruction. In fact, many regions have been encouraged to underestimate these numbers because of their inability to repair decrepit housing due to a shortage of funds at the local level. To attract the new funding, Russia’s regions will now have to develop legislation for its effective use. The current Housing Fund is expected to be exhausted by January 1, 2012.
However before the Housing Fund comes into existence, the new bill must still be passed in the second and third readings by the State Duma, approved by the Federation Council and signed into law by the President.
Translated by Artem V. Zagorodnov
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