The problems associated with capital repair are not just a matter of reasonable rent, but also a matter of safe and comfortable living. The program of capital repair of residential buildings has been in effect since 2014, but during all this time experts have failed to establish high-quality repairs and to convince Russians that the contributions go to a good cause.
Omsk Region
The situation with capital repair of residential buildings in the Omsk Region is difficult. Although the fee for this purpose has almost doubled from 6.7 ($0.1) to 11.43 rubles ($0.2) per square meter, the regional capital repair fund still complains that they are running out of money. The program for the current year is at risk of failing.
According to the data on the official website of the fund, since 2014, when the regional program began operating, the owners of premises in apartment buildings have transferred to the fund 9.34 billion rubles ($134.14 mln). As of June 1 this year, 9.14 rubles ($129.87 mln). That is, the fund accounts have a little more than 200 million rubles ($2.85) left.
For the current year the plan is to repair 700 apartment buildings. Contractors have been found for only 50 sites. The rest require 3 billion rubles ($42.67 mln).
Initially it was assumed that all the apartment buildings in the city, which are more than 7.5 thousand houses, will be repaired over the 30 years that the regional program is in effect.
Initially it was assumed that all apartment buildings in the city (more than 7.5 thousand houses) will be repaired during the 30 years that the regional program operates.
Every six years at least one structure was to be repaired in each house: roof, facade, internal communications, etc. To date, 3,617 apartment buildings have been repaired throughout the region, the residents of which pay contributions to the “common pool.” For their repair 9.6 billion rubles ($136.56) have been spent. Repair work was also done in 1,400 buildings where residents accumulate money in a special account.
On the surface, everything looks good, but the impression is deceptive: there are thousands of houses where residents have not received the promised repairs, and in fact there is no money to carry out further work.
Probably it happened because the activity of the regional fund of capital repair of the Omsk Region was accompanied by scandals and even criminal cases during the entire period of its existence.
A total of 6 heads of the fund were replaced, and only a few of them worked for more than a year. One of them, Marina Stepanova, is in pre-trial detention on charges of bribery. In September, she was charged with abuse of power with grave consequences.
Saratov Region
At the round table in the regional Duma it turned out that the Saratov Region came to sad results by the fall of 2022. Regional capital repair fund lives in a shortage of funds and with a debt to the contractors in the amount of 318 million rubles ($4.5 mln). In 2020 they were paid 1.9 billion rubles ($27.03.) Last year they got 751 million rubles ($10.68 mln) and already 499 million rubles ($8 mln) this year. Now they are looking for contractors in neighboring regions as the companies based in Saratov refuse to work with the fund.
“We worked with the fund, but then there was a problem with the payment for work,” a representative of the Karkas company said. “For a very long time they did not transfer money. But that was not the reason we stopped cooperating.
“Now the new public auctions are held with an installment payment of 18 months. Before that, it was 36 months. But still no organization will agree to such conditions. After all, we need to buy materials and pay people's salaries. Then we have to wait two years for the money to be transferred to us. The organization will go bankrupt. There is no advance financing under these contracts.”
Deputies are not even thinking of supporting the capital repair fund from the regional budget, because most of the regional treasury is social items, which is better not to change.
In terms of improving the collection of contributions, the population does not trust the organization and therefore in no hurry to part with the money.
“The house was scheduled for overhaul in 2025. Then it somehow miraculously turned out to be scheduled for 2027. There is no information about it. People do not understand for what reasons the capital repair was postponed, and they cannot reach the company’s office. Accordingly, people have mistrust. And who will guarantee that we will have it done in 2027?” said Peter Barannikov, a representative of the regional branch of the United People's Front.
By the way, the country as a whole has a problem with the collection of arrears on contributions. The total amount is about 126 billion rubles ($1.8 bln). According to the Association of regional operators, the system cannot cope with this on its own. It considers it necessary to involve professional market participants (presumably, collectors), as well as the latest technology to solve the problem.
It remains unknown how the situation will be resolved in the Saratov region. The regional Duma says that the “increase in the capitation fee is not currently considered,” but they do not dismiss the problem of increasing the financial stability of the fund from the agenda.
Biggest Problems of big Repairs
Low quality of the capital repairs of the housing was a big problem, which continues to worsen. According to Rosstat and the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation, the amount of housing, worn out by 66-70% and more, not only does not decrease, and even increases, not created a unified order of formation of regional programs and the system of technical accounting of the housing stock.
With such organization of capital repair the condition of houses will not improve, no matter how many billions are allocated for this purpose from the budget.
The second huge problem is the amount of contributions, which are increasing year after year. The state program of capital repair has not only become a real disaster for Russians, but has actually become a “quasi-tax.”
“The issue of establishing contributions for capital repair and their indexation is not the only problem of this program. In fact, the state created a financial pyramid, which will leave the citizens without money and without capital repairs in the end, and in the near future we will face such a phenomenon as “defrauded capitalists,” said the leader of the National Housing party Sergey Krekov.
However, officials are in no hurry to admit the failure of the program, neither in the Ministry of Construction, nor in the regions. It is obvious that today the program of capital repair needs to be adjusted but, in fact, only the amount of premiums has been adjusted so far. In 2022, the maximum increase in the amount of contributions was as much as 70%.