Rules of hiring, cost and specifics of social housing distribution in post-war years (on the example of cities of Sverdlovsk region)

This article analyzes the housing policy of the postwar period in the Sverdlovsk region. The forms of social housing provided to citizens, rules of hiring, specifics of distribution, cost are designated. This research is based on such sources as regulatory documents of the postwar period (resolutions of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks), government decrees), statistical documents, extracts from print media (announcements, articles, notes), letters and complaints of urban residents sent to newspaper editorial boards and to the public authorities, the materials budget survey of residents of the Sverdlovsk region. The terms of the tenancy required regular payment, the tenants could be refused the tenancy or they could be moved to other apartments. In practice, these rules were not always observed. Payment for social housing was generally low relative to the total family budget. There was a proportional dependence of payments on the specifics and volume of social housing. The article highlights the main housing issues that residents of the cities faced: difficulties in getting accommodation (due to insufficient volumes of construction), its low quality (in connection with both the old housing stock dilapidation and the faults and significant defects in construction of the new housing stock), poor rendering of housing and utilities services, rough mistakes made in the calculation of housing charges which resulted in people paying for the services they never actually received, etc. Overall, the Soviet housing policy during the post-war period fell in line with the general trajectory of the social and economic regulation of the time. The need to restore the country destroyed during the war as soon as possible and the shortage of material resources at the government’s disposal contributed to the adoption of a selective social policy: the amount of privileges granted to a worker depended on importance and relevance of various categories of Soviet citizens in terms of achieving the objectives of the mobilization economic model. The quality of social housing varied within the following range: a bed in a dormitory - a room in a communal apartment - a comfortable apartment (granted for the period of employment with an enterprise) - a comfortable three-room apartment granted for lifetime. On the one hand, the level of the housing the worker was eligible for depended on his/her qualification and professional relevance, with his/her role being defined by the system of national interests. Newspapers actively spread propaganda about this trajectory of social policy making citizens think of housing as a just reward for their labour achievements. On the other hand, informal schemes of distribution of such a valuable resource modified the housing distribution system covered in media and fixed by government decrees to a large extent.

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