House fig: a third of the regions could not cope with the resettlement of emergency housing

The regions spent inefficiently on the resettlement of emergency housing. This is stated in the report of the Accounting Chamber. As of December 1, 2025, 32 subjects had not fulfilled the targets, and their remaining emergency housing area was 14.5% of the planned national total. According to the auditors, the most economical way in terms of costs and terms of resettlement is to pay compensation to citizens for the occupied housing, however, only 34.4% are settled using this mechanism.

Who has not fulfilled their obligations

In 2023-2025, regions and municipalities did not effectively use budget funds aimed at resettling citizens from dilapidated housing stock. This follows from the report of the Accounting Chamber (Izvestia has it).

As of December 1, 2025, 32 regions had failed to meet the targets, said auditor Natalia Trunova. The remaining area of emergency housing that needs to be vacated is 726.6 thousand square meters, or 14.5% of the planned area. In particular, we are talking about the Smolensk, Belgorod, Tver, Tomsk, and Ryazan regions. This list also includes the Trans-Baikal, Primorsky and Stavropol Territories, Karelia, Crimea, Kalmykia, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

The press service of the Ministry of Construction told Izvestia that from 2019 to 2024, the federal project "Ensuring sustainable reduction of uninhabitable housing stock" improved the living conditions of 829.2 thousand people.

"14 million square meters have been settled . m of emergency housing, — specified in the department. — Since the beginning of 2025, 93.78 thousand people have been resettled out of 1.66 million square meters. m of emergency housing. The subjects of the Russian Federation are forming programs for the resettlement of emergency housing, taking into account their financial security through all possible sources of financing, including contracts for the integrated development of territories and large-scale investment projects."

According to the Accounts Chamber, from 2019 to 2024, the total amount of expenses amounted to 640.1 billion rubles. Of these, federal budget funds amount to 479.2 billion rubles, while regional funds amount to 151.22 billion rubles and non—budgetary sources amount to 9.63 billion rubles.

According to regional targeted programs, from 2019 to January 1, 2026, 650,9 thousand people out of 10.8 million square meters were resettled. they say, Natalia Trunova noted. The auditor added: "The expenses amounted to 750.2 billion rubles, of which 477.4 billion rubles were financed from the funds of the PPK Territorial Development Fund. In total, the fund has transferred 489.7 billion rubles to the budgets of the regions."

Some regions have not fulfilled their obligations to co-finance from their budgets, as stipulated in the agreements to receive support from the fund. In a number of subjects, the volume of funds actually allocated was less than 10% of the established volume: in the Trans—Baikal Territory — 5%, in Yakutia — 7.1%, in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District - 7.7%. At the same time, no liability measures are provided for such violations, the auditors note.

"As a result of the inaction of officials of the Russian Ministry of Construction, the repayment of financial support in the amount of 359.3 million rubles was not carried out by entities that violated the deadlines for the implementation of regional targeted programs," the Accounting Chamber said.

Residential front: in 11 regions, people cannot move out of emergency homes

Complaints are received from Volgograd, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tyumen, Yaroslavl and other regions.

How people struggle to relocate

The problem of emergency housing is acute throughout the country. So, in April 2026, the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed to report on the results of an inspection conducted on a complaint about a violation of the rights of residents of an emergency house in the city of Labytnangi, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Residents turned to the UK due to prolonged non-settlement. The wooden building, built in 1989, is in an unusable condition. In 2021, the building was declared an emergency due to a high degree of wear, but so far people have not been resettled, and the relocation date has been postponed indefinitely. Appeals to the authorized bodies did not bring results.

A criminal case on violation of the rights of residents of an emergency house was opened in Kopeisk, Chelyabinsk region. The two-storey building, built in 1955, was declared an emergency in 2024 due to the high degree of physical deterioration of the structures. The settlement deadline is set for 2028.

Residents of emergency homes regularly turn to Izvestia. One of the latest messages came from the Tyumen region.

"Living in the house is impossible, it threatens my life and health, as well as my relatives. I am regularly charged more and more for social loans every time," the resident wrote in the editorial feedback bot. — My relatives and I do not use this house, electricity, gas, and water are not connected there. I have to rent a house to live in, because the administration doesn't do anything about it, it doesn't provide me with other housing, but only requires a fee from me."

A resident of the Smolensk region complained about a similar problem. His parents live in an emergency house, "which is gradually sinking underground and falling apart."

"The ceiling could collapse on your head at any minute and there will be casualties. This house has been repeatedly set on fire," he wrote. — The nearby houses were demolished a long time ago, although they were much larger and stronger. People were moved to new houses built nearby. And this house, where our parents now live, has been declared an emergency for a long time. And just recently, this house somehow became habitable. We have contacted the local administration and the prosecutor's office with this issue and everything remains in its place as it was."

Regina from the Arkhangelsk region complained to the editorial board that in 2018 her housing was declared an emergency and promised to give a new one at the end of 2025.

"Our housing is very dilapidated, I live in it with three children and an old grandmother," she complained. — It is impossible to live in it in winter, it is very cold there, the stove is not heated, everything is smoking. We have to rent a house for the winter, but it's very expensive."

Being late for moving: is it possible to speed up the resettlement of an emergency house

Those who died in the fire in Yakutsk have been waiting for new housing since 2017

How to speed up the resettlement process

During the inspection, the most frequently used mechanisms for the resettlement of citizens from emergency housing were analyzed. For example, the shared or independent construction of an apartment building, the construction or purchase of individual residential buildings, the purchase of housing from a developer or other persons, compensation and development of built-up areas.

As a result, one of the most economical in terms of costs and relocation time was the payment of compensation to citizens for their housing. In this case, the average move takes only a month. However, only 34.4% of emergency housing is settled in this way.

In 2024, 65 subjects of the Russian Federation used the mechanism of compensation. The highest cost per square meter was in the Krasnodar Territory (187.4 thousand rubles), the lowest — in the Ryazan region (22.1 thousand rubles).

Following the audit, the Accounting Chamber sent a number of recommendations to the Government. The Ministry of Construction was instructed to include in the federal Housing project an indicator for the sustainable reduction of uninhabitable housing. It is also proposed to amend the legislation to provide for the return of financial support if the region does not fulfill its obligations.

One of the key proposals is to consider the possibility of using the mechanism of state housing certificates, which will help reduce budget expenditures and help reduce the risk that citizens will not spend money on housing purchases.

The housing certificate tool has been around for a long time, but remains in low demand, Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert with the Popular Front in housing and communal services, told Izvestia. The main reason is the expectations of citizens: residents of emergency homes, as a rule, expect to receive new housing to replace the lost in full.

"At the same time, the resettlement program itself has historical roots and is associated with unfulfilled obligations to maintain the housing stock formed back in the Soviet period," he said. — At the current stage, mainly low-rise buildings are being settled, but in the future the program will affect more massive buildings, in particular, Khrushchev buildings. This will significantly increase the burden on the budget system.

Vladimir Koshelev, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, believes that the proposal to switch to state housing certificates instead of paying compensation on hand is reasonable.

— Cases of spending, in fact, targeted budget payments on other goods will be excluded, the money will be used strictly for the purchase of housing, — said the parliamentarian. — But it is important to work out the details. In particular, the certificate must be liquid so that banks and sellers accept it without a discount.

Also, according to the deputy, there should be no restrictions on the type of housing purchased: "primary", "secondary", the construction of an individual house.

— The issue of the geography of the housing certificate application deserves special attention, — he said. — On the one hand, it is necessary to leave the right to choose for people, but with minimal restrictions, so as not to disrupt the balance of supply and demand in the housing market in specific regions.

Pavel Sklyanchuk noted that the state will have to modernize support measures. In the future, additional instruments, including preferential mortgages, may play a more significant role.

"A separate problem is the social justice of resource allocation," the expert added. — In some cases, resettlement extends to citizens who have other housing, which raises questions in terms of the effectiveness of budget expenditures. In the long term, with a 10-15-year horizon, the program needs to be optimized. It is necessary to move to a model where citizens will be more involved in improving their living conditions, rather than acting solely as recipients of support.

For effective resettlement, it is necessary to increase the volume of construction, Pavel Sklyanchuk noted. In particular, a mechanism for the integrated development of territories is currently being used, in which settlement and construction are carried out quarterly. This makes it possible to form an economy of projects: part of the housing is sold on the market, part is transferred to displaced persons.