The State Duma again denied housing to 290 thousand orphans: there is no budget for this

“The certificate was invented, but the queue is not decreasing”

On Tuesday, the State Duma rejected by a majority vote an initiative that was supposed to improve the situation with providing orphans with housing. What the initiative was, why it did not pass, and what is the way out of the current deplorable situation with apartments for children left without parental care, MK found out.

By law, the state is obliged to provide apartments for orphans. There are currently 250 thousand of these children on the waiting list for housing. “32 billion rubles are allocated per year for the purchase of apartments, and more than 260 billion rubles are needed one-time to solve the problem,” Sergei Mironov (A Just Russia – For Truth) informed the deputies. The problem is that the Ministry of Finance does not have that kind of money. In this case, as suggested in the faction, let the state allocate money to orphans for rent until their turn comes…

Back on July 13, 2023, the faction proposed giving regions the right to pay orphans who have reached the age of 18 the necessary amount of money to buy housing. Now the state is obliged to provide housing for graduates of orphanages, but due to the lack of housing stock in the regions, huge queues of people form that stretch for many years. One of the ways to solve this problem is to oblige the subjects to pay rent for housing to grown orphans until they receive permanent property.

According to the Unified State Information System for Social Security (USISSO), in September 2022, there were 292,125 orphans on the list for housing. More than 200 thousand of them are over 18 years old.

“More than 200 thousand orphans cannot get housing; it is simply not being built in the regions,” Alexander Gezalov, a specialist in social orphanhood, commented on the situation to MK. – Yes, a certificate has been invented (a payment for the purchase of residential property or for the full repayment of a mortgage loan granted for the purchase of residential premises – AVT.), somewhere some housing is allocated, but in general the queue is growing and not decreasing. This is due, first of all, to the fact that these problems have to be solved locally in the regions, and the law is federal. In the regions there are no such funds to build normal housing in the required quantities. Therefore, orphans are often given dilapidated, run-down secondary housing that is unsuitable for living. The regions are trying to solve the problem by issuing these certificates, but they, too, are in no way provided with the resources necessary to purchase meters. The amount of certificates does not correspond to the market price of housing.

– How would you suggest solving this issue?

“It is necessary that every graduate, two years before leaving a social institution, already knows what kind of housing he will go to. It is necessary, in my opinion, to transfer all the money for the purchase of housing for orphans to the federal level and compile lists in the same way as a data bank for the adoption of children is compiled. Because now each region is doing as it wants and as best it can, but the queue is growing and not moving, which is why social tension arises and crime is growing, as children fight for survival as best they can. This situation does not bring anything good. Therefore, from words to deeds and legislation.

According to Gezalov, it is obvious that this initiative was rejected due to lack of budget and due to failure to comply with the existing law.

– 159 Federal Law turns out to be so vague… (“On additional guarantees for social support for orphans and children left without parental care” – AVT.). The region needs money, but the law is federal; Accordingly, how can the State Duma pass a law that contradicts another law? – the expert summarized.

Let us recall that the right to a one-time provision at the expense of the budget of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation of a payment certified by a certificate is granted to persons who belong to the category of orphans and have reached the age of 23 years, subject to a number of conditions. These are conditions such as: having an income not lower than the minimum wage, the applicant does not have mental disorders, alcohol or drug addiction.