‘This is something new for the market’: Kherson families buy first flats in Kazan
The Tatarstan Ministry of Construction is preparing another 22 applications from people rehoused from new regions of Russia to get home certificates
As Realnoe Vremya found out, the first six families of displaced people from Kherson Oblast moved to Kazan thanks to federal home certificates. The Tatarstan Ministry of Construction organised the work to prepare documents to buy homes for the refugees from Kherson and a part of Kherson Oblast who were evacuated en masse. “Everybody has different sums, but a good house can be bought in Kazan,” President of the Tatarstan Guild of Realtors Anastasia Golyasheva who chose flats for these citizens told the newspaper.
First “echelon”: 28 families from Kherson
Forcedly displaced people from Kherson and Kherson Oblast started to arrive in Kazan. They are given home certificates funded by the budget and a one-time payout of 100,000 rubles per family member to buy a house. These support measures are envisaged by the Tatarstan government’s decree No. 17 On Social Support Measures for Forcedly Displaced People from Kherson and Kherson Oblast and Urgently Arrived in the Republic of Tatarstan for Permanent Residence adopted this January. As Realnoe Vremya found out, 28 families from Kherson Oblast are going to move to Tatarstan for permanent residence.
“Nowadays the ministry organised the work to prepare state home certificates for citizens of Kherson and Kherson Oblast who left their place of permanent residence and urgently arrived in these territories,” the press service of the Tatarstan Ministry of Construction told our newspaper.
The first six displaced families from Kherson Oblast already bought a house through the home certificates, the ministry specified. Applications for certificates from another 22 displaced families from Kherson are being processed.
“A home can be purchased with the certificate in any Russian region regardless of the place of its issue. Accommodation must be suitable for living and meet established sanitary and technical rules and norms,” the Tatarstan Ministry of Construction explained.
A state home certificate is a personal certificate confirming the right to receiving a non-refundable subsidy to buy a flat for some categories of people entitled to benefits. Since this year, the list has been added forcedly displaced people from Kherson Oblast. Given the name, one can understand that the subsidy covers most sum of the home but not fully. There is no exact sum the certificate is issued for. The amount depends on the housing price in a specific region and is calculated according to the average price for a square metre of a flat across Russia.
Based on 88,737 rubles per square metre
In Tatarstan, the home certificate is calculated on the basis of 88,737 rubles per square metre. When determining the size of a flat for a displaced person, the government of the republic decided to go by federal standard. It is 33 sq m for a lonely person, 42 sq m for a family of two and 18 sq m per person if it is a family of three or more people.
“The amount of the social payout is calculated according to the price of a square metre across the Russian Federation fixed by the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation and the standard living area that’s 33 sq m for lonely citizens, 42 sq m for a family of two and 18 sq m per person if it is a family of three or more people as of the date of submittal of an application for the social payout,” reads an appendix to the Russian government’s decree No. 1876 On Measures Taken to Displace Citizens of Kherson and the right riverbank of Kherson Oblast Who Forcedly Left the Place of Permanent Resident and Massively Urgently Arrived in Territories of Other Russian Regions as of 21.10.2022.”
In other words, a region calculates the amount of the housing subsidy for displaced people, submits an application to the federal Territory Development Fund that transfers the money.
A home hasn’t been purchased through the Tatarstan State Housing Fund
The decree of the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers No. 3 as of 12.01.2023 established the order of providing social payouts to buy homes based on state home certificates granted to citizens of Kherson and a part of Kherson Oblast who forcedly left the place of permanent residence and urgently massively arrived in the territory of the republic for permanent residence.
The social payout can be used to buy one or several new or existing flats in Russia from individuals and (or) legal entities (one or several). A home (residential areas) must meet the requirements established by Articles 15 and 16 of the Russian Housing Code, be well-furnished for the settlement chosen for permanent residence, including in the countryside (including outhouses).
“A home with the certificate hasn’t been purchased through the Tatarstan State Housing Fund,” the Tatarstan Ministry of Construction’s press service specified.
“The sums are different, but a good house can be bought”
Tatarstan realtors told us what the displaced people from Kherson were buying.
«По сертификату можно купить дом, квартиру на вторичном или первичном рынке, где они захотят»
Russian Vice Premier Marat Khusnullin announced the launch of a mechanism of home certificates for evacuated Kherson citizens for the first time last October. Authorities of Kherson Oblast then announced mass evacuation of citizens due to constant bombing of civil infrastructure and the risk of dam destruction at the Kakhovka Hydro Power Plant, which could lead to a flood on a big territory.
After joining Russia, Kherson, Novaya Kakhovka, Chernobayevka and other cities were daily attacked by Ukraine’s artillery. The head of Kherson Oblast delivered a video address to the Russian administration asking to help to evacuate citizens of the area to other Russian regions. In reply, the Russian vice premier assured him the authorities were ready to help relocate citizens of Kherson to different Russian regions.
Nowadays 53,000 out of 68,000 displaced people from Kherson have received home certificates, Marat Khusnullin reported at a meeting of the Russian Security Council in early April. At the same time, homes are built in the new regions. So 200,000 square metres of housing has been delivered in the destroyed Mariupol. The Kherson people can apply for a one-time payout to buy a property and a state home certificate for a social payout to buy a home in more than 50 regions.