Rinat Sadykov: ‘Two priorities of youth are employment and housing today’
In 2023, Tatarstan did not fulfill the task of improving housing conditions, but exceeded it in terms of patriotic education
The Ministry of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan managed to complete six of the seven tasks for 2023, but difficulties arose with improving housing conditions. Such conclusions could have been reached on February 20 at a meeting in the Public Chamber of the republic, where the results of the fulfillment of the publicly formed goals of the department were discussed.
Housing conditions improved for 480 families instead of 1,500
In 2023, the Ministry of Youth Affairs of Tatarstan had seven tasks. The most difficult situation was with improving the living conditions of young families — this is the only goal that the participants in the discussion recognised as only partially fulfilled. Last year, the Ministry of Finance had to help 1,500 married couples to purchase housing under subsidies, preferential mortgages and interest-free installments, head of the department Rinat Sadykov reported.
“Unfortunately, for a number of reasons, we could not overcome this level, because last year we provided about 480 families with housing according to the four programmes implemented by the Ministry of Youth Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan," he complained.
According to the minister, today more than 3 thousand couples are registered in the republic for the need to improve housing conditions.
“The objective circumstances were that huge numbers of orphaned children who reached the age of 18 received housing in houses with social mortgages. And these houses were provided potentially for those young families who were registered for the need to improve housing conditions," the minister explained the situation.
He said that he had already discussed additional support for the implementation of this task with сhairperson of the State Council of Tatarstan, Farid Mukhametshin. The chairperson of the Public Chamber, Zilya Valeeva, who was present at the discussions, asked whether additional funding from the republican budget would be necessary to complete the plan for 2023. Sadykov replied in the affirmative. “Anyway, we understand that the two priorities that young people have today are employment and housing," he concluded.
The minister noted that over the past year, 81 married couples have received funds for the purchase of housing free of charge within the framework of the Young Family federal programme. The amount of payments amounted to 126 million rubles. This year, it is planned to support 84 families, the amount of funds provided will be equal to 133 million rubles. And in 2025, the Ministry of Agriculture hopes for a significant increase in co-financing of the programme from the federal budget: “Instead of 33 million (from the federal budget — ed.) for 100 million republican ones, we will receive at least a multiple figure," Sadykov expects.
The patriotic movement exceeded expectations
But about 240 thousand Tatarstan citizens participated in patriotic events, although it was planned to cover four times less. The Ministry of Youth Affairs does not plan to slow down the pace. The amount of funding for the patriotic programme for young people today is 10 million rubles. However, seeing the request of the youth, the ministry formed an updated plan, which is already estimated at 56 million rubles. It is currently under approval.
According to Sadykov, the republic is Russia's leader in patriotic education of young people and the preparation of citizens for military service in almost all indicators. Young Tatarstan citizens participate in search teams, military-patriotic profile shifts, and the military reconstruction movement.
At the same time, as Maxim Konov, a representative of the Combat Brotherhood organisation, who asked for the floor, noted, patriotic education is aimed mainly at schoolchildren and students of universities and colleges, and working youth from 25 to 35 years old remain on the sidelines. To remedy the situation, he suggested organising an initial training course for children who want to go to the special military operation zone. But whether the ministry of youth affairs will take the idea into development is still unclear.
Job search, psychological help, and creative self-realisation
Sadykov named youth employment as one of the priorities. In 2023, the republic managed to provide more than 15 thousand people with part-time jobs — this coverage was expected. Young Tatarstan citizens were offered individual employment, as well as joining temporary labour brigades and student detachments.
The audience expressed concern about the fate of applicants with disabilities. Sadykov replied that not all enterprises and organisations are ready to provide an accessible environment, but the Ministry of Youth Affairs supports such young people in entrepreneurial activity: it provides grants and helps to exhibit products at fairs, for example, at the Open Space Market.
Also, the tasks of the Ministry of Youth Affairs for 2023 included the creation of affordable psychological assistance (coverage was about 176 thousand people), prevention of destructive phenomena on the Internet (280 thousand people), creating conditions for creative self-realisation (480 thousand people) and conducting free online psychological trainings (more than nine thousand people). All of them were recognised as successfully completed.