Housing construction in the Chelyabinsk region is gaining momentum. To date, the rate of putting new housing in operation since the beginning of 2014 amounted to 364,000 square meters, which is 20 percent more than during the same period of last year. Acting Governor Boris Dubrovsky paid first priority attention to this issue from early days of his work.
At a recent staff meeting with members of the government, officials discussed the questions about the participation of the region in the federal pilot project "Housing for Russian family."
"The development strategy of the Chelyabinsk region before 2020 defines an objective - to reach the level of 3.7 million square meters on the amount of commissioned housing. This is twice the current rate. Our region has all chances to get into the pilot project, - said Dubrovsky. - We submitted an application and identified the projects that, I hope, will be accepted as pilot ones. We will work the whole algorithm on them. If we learn how to properly use the tools of the program, it will allow us to effectively and quickly solve the problems raised in the strategy. In this case, housing will be as affordable as possible for many people."
The Ministry of Construction and Housing of Russia has already prepared the draft of recommendations to determine the maximum price for economy class housing under the program. A square meter should be within 80% of the market value and not more than 30 thousand rubles.
"I think it it will multiply the number of applicants. The question is to which extent it can be real today. The main cost of housing does not consist of the actual costs of construction, materials and so on. There are many ancillary costs related to coordination, land acquisition, building communications and everything else, and there are not many companies that can afford to enter the planned price of 30,000 rubles per square meter. I think it will dramatically increase the amount of those wanting to buy a home," a member of the Federation Council Committee for Social Policy, Viktor Abramov told Pravda.Ru.
"Now the subjects of the Russian Federation ponder the proposals, the volume, which can be implemented on the territory, on site-specific territorial areas. That is, subjects already work as project owners, sending the lists of areas, where the program will be implemented, for coordination. Next, it is planned to expose this information to the general public," Tatiana Polidi, executive director of the Institute for Urban Economics said in an interview with Pravda.Ru.
During the implementation of the program announced by President Vladimir Putin, before 2017, it is planned to build 25 million square meters of property complete with all necessary infrastructure. Boris Dubrovsky instructed adequate departments to look closer into the issues of mortgage lending: "We must put the parameters to raise average loans per household. This, I hope, will give an opportunity to residents of South Urals to acquire more spacious homes for a large family."
The Minister for Construction, Infrastructure and Road Infrastructure, Victor Tupikin, shared his views on the solution of the task to cut housing cost. To achieve the goal, the Government of the Chelyabinsk region cooperates with the Housing Development Fund, which offers favorable conditions to investors and puts plots of land in the region up for auction.
"Creating some sort of clusters, where, at the expense of budget funds, all the infrastructure will be built, i.e. roads, gas, electricity, tenders for land plots that already have the utilities built at the expense of the budget, - of course, it dramatically reduces the cost of housing, - Viktor Abramov noted. - In this case, of course, it can be done only in conjunction with government agencies, because developers are not able to do it."
This year, the RHD fund plans to conduct a "Dutch" auction in South Urals. Lease agreements will be based on the selling price of housing, proposed by developers. This will be a reverse auction; the winner will be the company that offers the lowest cost.
One of the leading developers of the region - YuU KZhSI once demonstrated good experience in the field. Teachers, doctors, young citizens, single parents, adoptive parents, large families could get a 20-percent discount. For teachers, according to the regional law, reduced mortgage rates were provided.
"A good program was developed in the Chelyabinsk region. We have repeatedly written about this, because this is an amazing example, when not only budget, but also non-public funds were attracted to solve the problem, - Peter Polozhevets, Chief Editor of "Teacher's Newspaper" told Pravda.Ru. - in the region a group of companies was created that integrate the Fund for Housing Mortgage Lending ... In my opinion, in 2012, the fund helped to solve the house problem for 250 families of young teachers. The figure was at the same level in 2013 too. In addition, in the Chelyabinsk region, there is corporate housing for teachers."
The head of the Southern Urals believes that the information about the program of affordable housing should be public, and all developers must be informed accordingly: "They need to know, where houses need to be built. One should form public order implements the programs to resettle those living in emergency housing - the programs that receive money allocated from regional and federal budgets." According to Boris Dubrovsky, the openness and transparency of information for developers will help make the housing market more competitive and will ultimately lead to lower costs.