A ceremony for the handover of keys to social housing apartments took place at the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
A ceremony for the handover of keys to social housing apartments took place at the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
Young people who fall under the category of orphans and children left without parental care received keys to apartments in a new building on 1-ya Proletarskaya Street. Out of the 100 apartments in the building, 22 have been constructed for the preferential category of citizens using budget funds.
The new residents were congratulated by the Chairman of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, Viktor Nikolaikin. He noted that last year was successful for the regional centre in terms of housing construction, with 123,000 square meters built (7,000 square meters more than in 2016). Of these, 190 apartments were built using budget funds, including the housing in the building currently being occupied on 1-ya Proletarskaya. The new building was erected on the site of a demolished dilapidated dormitory. "This area has kindergartens and schools, various retail outlets, and quite good transport links," said Viktor Nikolaikin.
The Head of the Housing Policy Department of the City Executive Committee, Marina Areshchenko, informed journalists that 536 city residents are currently registered as needing social housing. This includes about 300 individuals who are orphans and children left without parental care and who are under 18 years of age. There are over 130 adult citizens in this category in Vitebsk. "As construction progresses, they will be provided with housing. Legislation stipulates that social housing is provided to orphans for 5 years. After this period, the apartments are reclassified as rental housing," noted the representative of the City Executive Committee.
She also explained that orphans have the right to choose: either to receive social apartments or to participate in housing construction using state support (preferential loans and subsidies). In this case, they are provided with a preferential loan under the same terms as for large families.
Regarding plans for 2018, Marina Areshchenko emphasized that Vitebsk plans to construct social housing using technical and economic assistance from China. This will be a 108-apartment building on Leningradskaya Street. It will be the second such building in Vitebsk.
As previously reported, in 2017, a 120-apartment high-rise building was constructed in the Bilevo microdistrict with the involvement of Chinese investment.