And now, about the Khrushchevky

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

A while back I wrote about life in the so called communal apartments, the huge concrete and iron mastodons hosting millions of Russians in the suburbs of big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. They've become something like an institution, an inherent part of the Russian urban and cultural landscape.

Well, guess what. This year, just a year before the upcoming presidential election in Russia, the biggest protests (something like a pre-election tradition) are not organized by the opposition. And not because there's almost no opposition left in Russia (which is true), but because they're inspired by people's fears that they might lose their homes. About a fortnight ago, 17 thousand people protested on the Moscow streets, and the reason was the development plans of the local authorities that have now received green light from Putin himself.

The protesters demanded the resignation of the Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin because he's planning some drastic refurbishment of the capital city. His program includes the demolition of hundreds of residential blocks and the erection of new buildings in their place. I'm talking about the so called Khrushchevky, because the oldest among them were built in the 50s and 60s of the last century. Most aren't as big as the Kommunalky, these are just 5 floors high, without a lift. The apartments themselves are tiny, the walls thin as paper.

Russians both love and hate these homes. The Khrushchevky host millions of people, but the quality of the buildings is just miserable. The mayor says that many of these buildings are crumbling, almost close to collapsing. The plan is to remove the oldest among them and replace them with new, more spacious (and higher) buildings. The renovation program in Moscow has actually been underway for almost a decade now, but it's about to be expanded drastically in the next few years. The official data says that 25 million sq m of living area will have to be demolished, affecting 1.6 million Muscovites.

And here's where the problems begin. As an expert has explained to The Kommersant, the Krushchevky are actually not in such a bad shape as some are trying to portray them. And many people are panicking that there's nowhere to live for the time it'll take to build them new blocks. They're concerned they'd be forcefully moved to Moscow's outskirts, while their homes closer to the center would be sold for a much higher value than they'd get in compensation.

At least on paper, the inhabitants of these blocks will be able to vote if their buildings should be included in the renovation program or not. They've got a special online portal at their disposal for that purpose, and there are also the regular residents gatherings in their blocks where such decisions are made. But many believe the process will not be transparent enough. So far the protests have forced the authorities to make some amendments. For instance, the deadline for vacating the old buildings will be extended from 60 to 90 days, and probably further to 120. While the Russian parliament is voting on the bill at the second and third review, more compromises are expected.

The Moscow city authorities are adamant. The program will continue. And here's the key moment. The presidential election is next year. Putin's re-election looks imminent, of course. But still, it would be a shame if the election campaign is marred by mass social protests because of things as banal as this, right?