Stone hell "Kamushek": how the capital's microdistrict became hostage of "Moscow City"

Lyudmila Butuzova

At the very end of last year, while the Russians were slaughtering Olivier, the State Duma adopted a law "On Amendments to the Urban Development Code of the Russian Federation and Certain Legislative Acts in order to ensure the integrated development of territories" (No. 494-FZ, in common parlance - the law on the integrated development of territories (IDT).

The law makes it possible to update the urban environment through a simplified procedure for the seizure of land for construction, to involve extra-budgetary sources in the renovation and to demolish houses of any number of storeys and conditions that, by the will of fate, stand on the cleared area.

The Kamushki microdistrict in the Presnensky district of the capital may become the first pilot project of the IDT program. Now there are only six residential Khrushchevs and several higher-rise buildings, the rest have been evicted as part of the renovation program. Many residents of unsettled five-story buildings are trying to leave the area on their own, but most are waiting for clarifications from the city authorities. They are not here…

Meanwhile, “Kamushki”, which until recently was a developed and well-maintained area of Moscow, is rapidly turning into a marginal quarter, squeezed from all sides by the skyscrapers “Moscow City” and the Third Transport Ring.

- There is real hell, - said on his page in the FB Moscow City Duma deputy Sergei Mitrokhin, who visited "Kamushki" at the request of residents. The renovation program has given rise to such a sad phenomenon as UNDORENOVATION. This is when one part of the houses (large) was resettled and will be demolished, and the other was left to fend for themselves. Almost all social facilities in the microdistrict were closed, there are no shops, hairdressers, ateliers, even the Russian Post office recently moved. To leave for the Third Transport Ring in the Moscow City area is a big problem now, there is a traffic jam on this section even on weekends and holidays. At the same time, there will obviously be the same monsters as there are to build near the City.

The most unpleasant thing for people is uncertainty. Nobody tells them WHAT will happen next. What should they prepare for? Sell apartments and leave? But they are paid for at half the market price. Wait for proposals for resettlement from the city? But the authorities do not offer ANYTHING. The evicted houses have been surrounded by fences since November, blocking the usual routes of movement around the quarter. Now you have to spend 10-15 minutes more on a trip to the store. And there was only one store left. Yards in the block are not cleaned. “I was personally convinced of this when I came to Kamushki to meet with residents,” says Mitrokhin. - Another hell is a continuous parking lot, which the visitors of Moscow City turned into. Previously, residents were protected from it by barriers. Now there is NO ONE! Mothers with babies cannot leave the entrances, as strollers cannot be squeezed between dense clusters of cars".

Mitrokhin sent a deputy request to the mayor of Moscow with a demand to stop bullying the innocent neighbors of Moscow City, to explain to them plans for the development of the Kamushki territory. The minimum program is to restore barriers and remove dirt from the streets.

Strictly speaking, the fate of the houses in "Kamushki" has long been in question. Back in 2005, the former mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov, adopted a resolution on the development of a scheme for their resettlement. It was created only in 2008, after which the process stopped. Residents of the houses staged pickets, the issue of the microdistrict was more than once considered in the mayor's office and the Moscow City Duma. The main argument of those who were eager for resettlement is “everyone lives like people, with hot water and spacious kitchens, and we have gas water heaters and kitchens 5 meters in our apartments”. Everything is learned by comparison: small kitchens were accompanied by solid brick houses with balconies and elevators, green courtyards, a good-neighborly atmosphere...

Finally, in October 2012, a place was found for "Kamushek" - on the territory of the former iron foundry "Krasnaya Presnya". They began to master the industrial zone rather quickly, the construction site was supervised by the then deputy. Mayor of Moscow Marat Khusnullin. “We must fulfill our obligations to relocate the residents of Kamushek, who live twenty meters from the overpass built in Moscow City. Finally, we liberate the territory of the plant, build the first starting houses for resettlement there ”- the words of Khusnullin fell like a balm on the hearts of the residents, exhausted by everyday inconveniences. It was simply fascinating that when developing a concept "exclusively for Kamusheki", according to the head of the construction complex, "for the first time, advanced technologies of mathematical modeling and systems with artificial intelligence will be used." Goodbye forever, gas water heater!

In 2017, the sites under the five-story buildings of the microdistrict and the house being built were transferred to the renovation program. In 2019, a skyscraper was completed at 2 Mukomolny Proezd, and the move began. The experience of the pioneers, who came close to the mathematical modeling of apartments and artificial intelligence of design, diminished the enthusiasm of the residents who remained in the old place. Former neighbors told without embellishment:

“I have lived in Kamushki for 44 years. They moved to the industrial zone at Mukomolny - ten meters were added to many, almost nothing to some. Relocation pleases - no, not happy! They built four "cheloveinniks" for us, 45 floors each, the windows open only for ventilation, there are no balconies, and there are continuous roads with trains and noise around. Wonderful relocation! I will not advise anyone".

But it looks like there is no turning back...

- We felt that everything was with "Kamushki" last year, after a new wave of resettlement, which was accompanied by scandals, litigation and some completely wild moves - faster, faster! People did not even have time to collect their things, - said the old-timer of the microdistrict Viktor Belousov with Novye Izvestia. - Can you imagine what it is? Yesterday the houses were alive, with curtains, with flowers on the windowsills, the next morning the entrances were wide open, the doors to the apartments were removed, the gas pipes were cut off, everything on the floor was mixed - linen, dishes, sewing machines, furniture. What kind of resettlement is this? So it was only during the emergency evacuation in Pripyat, people knew that they would not return. Marauders walked there in a crowd, and they walk around here, looking closely... We chase them... Although it became bad, we live here, we are not going to move.

The district "Zhilischnik" (budget organization, which reports to the department of housing and communal services and improvement of the capital) is called upon to protect the quarter from turning into a ghetto. Once a week, a technician-caretaker walks around the torn house and contributes to the renovation - he wraps the doors torn from their hinges with wire.

Victor's house and several other five-story buildings were not included in the renovation. In general, they were not touched and, as it were, not even noticed. But when the contrast between yesterday and today becomes unbearable, even the staunch opponents of renovation are faced with a choice - "either to surrender in good faith, or to expect that we will simply be crushed". Both options are bad.

- I sent a request to the official website of the Moscow mayor's office with a request to clarify: is Mr. Bochkarev speaking on his own behalf, or is he voicing the secret plans of the leadership? - says Victor. - If these are plans, then what exactly will happen to my house and our "skyscrapers" of 9-12 floors, which are only 15-20 years old, and they were, as it were, guarantees that the historical "Kamushki" will not turn into dust under your feet, life will go on. They didn't answer me for a long time...

The answer came after the adoption of the law on KRT (IDT). Representatives of the mayor's office said that to speed up the renovation, additional launch sites are being selected, including those already related to or suitable for the KRT program. That is, as the disturbed owners did not drive black thoughts from themselves, but what happened happened: the threat of demolition loomed real. Moreover, at once for two programs. Only now it will be more difficult to get out of them and keep your home, if at all possible.

“Such laws can only be passed out of the great delusion that people have no other worries than to demolish the whole country and build it up in the manner of Moscow City”, - says Belousov. - But I wonder, where is the place of owners in this new legislation? Their rights are not even mentioned...

Why not! There are rights and they are no worse than those stated in the renovation program. If the owner is not satisfied with the proposed resettlement option according to the KTR or the amount of compensation, then he is given 45 days from the date of receipt of the notice of eviction to challenge the “voluntariness of the exchange”. After this period, the authorities have the right to go to court and oblige the obstinate to vacate the living space for transfer to the developer. And there is no need to grin that a person has to re-plan his life in a month and a half. This is more liberal than in the old days, when garages and commercial properties were demolished overnight. And nothing, even in these conditions, the owners managed to get away.

The principle of including a house in the IDT program is similar to the principle of inclusion in the renovation program, but even here liberal conditions are gushing forth. In the case of IDT, the consent is not required of the owners, but of the tenants representing them - tenants, for example, or guests who have been delayed for a short time. The latter can also vote for the future fate of the house, in which they spend the night on the bird's rights. If the meeting of tenants and owners does not take place, the house will be automatically entered into the program.

When exchanging old housing for new, the authorities will be guided by the proven principle of equivalence: the old apartment must be no worse than the new one and meet regional standards. As in the case of renovation, the owners can pay extra if they want to get a larger apartment. And silently swallow the misunderstanding when it turns out that the loyal "can pay extra" turns into an indisputable "you have to pay extra".

At the same time, the owners have the right to demand monetary compensation instead of a new apartment - the market value of the vacated apartment, taking into account the common property, land plot, costs incurred and lost profits (greetings from Article 32 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

“It sounds fine as long as this law does not concern you”, - laments Vladimir Kislov, the owner of an apartment in that very “Brezhnev nine-story building” with loggias, which is likely to fall under the pressure of “integrated development”. - I can still understand people from some Russian outskirts: "Yes, let them take my barracks, if only they give us normal housing." But in Moscow everything is different: the barracks are better, and most often they are taken away from those who do not want to give them away, and there are many more owners who have suffered from forced resettlement than those who have received any benefits from this. Look at Kamushki - everything is in one bottle - and renovation, and progress, and KTR, and the natural robbery of the natives under the "free" distribution of shiny beads. Not everyone knows how to make ends meet and understand what is happening...

Vladimir succeeds - he is an economist by education, and an activist of the initiative group "For Kamushki". His calculation of family losses "from the antisocial urban planning policy of Moscow, from manipulating prices for renovated apartments, from the appropriation by an unknown group of persons of common property and land that were included in the cost of the vacated apartment" is approaching 10 million rubles (taking with resettlement). He intends to collect money, but so far there are no addressees ready to consider his claims. The Moskomarkhitektura is not authorized to interpret the economic consequences of political decisions, moreover, “the mechanisms of the IDT have not yet been adopted in Moscow” (as, according to Kislov, it is written in the response of the department). The Renovation Fund “does not have the competence to comment on family relocation expenses”. The City Property Department replied that this was not their topic. The lawsuit was not accepted: the family was resettled according to the law, and that the law is insidious - "so this is not to the Moscow authorities, but higher - your grandmother and your mortgage are not visible from there".

“We are still selling the apartment”, - Kislov continues. - Nobody wants to buy. For the whole year, only two buyers showed up. They will come and see and that's it. It's not even about the price - we have long ago reduced it to reasonable limits.

"Voting with your feet is an indicator of the true attitude towards Moscow's urban planning and resettlement programs", Kislov said.

You can find out the future on the Internet. Homeowners now have to independently monitor whether their house is included in the KTR program or not. The authorities are not required to officially notify them. Just like in the popular joke - "There will be a surprise!" But something is not at all funny ...

Expert commentary "Novye Izvestia":

Klim Likhachyov, lawyer, coordinator of the Working Group on the observance of the rights of Muscovites during resettlement under the renovation program - for Novye Izvestia

- After the adoption of Federal Law No. 494-FZ, almost any apartment building can be included in the demolition list. The criteria by which the authorities and investors conclude a so-called agreement on the renewal of the living environment and determine the list of buildings to be demolished are very vague and do not contain requirements for the number of storeys. For the demolition of someone else's property, investors just need to go through a filter with a compulsory vote for apartment owners "for" or "against", which they may not know about. The authorities and investors have no obligation to notify residents of the event; it is enough to post information on the Internet or in the premises of government authorities. If they did not notice it, they themselves are to blame. Concerns are also expressed on social networks that now citizens do not have the opportunity to independently hold meetings on their participation or non-participation in the CRT. Such concerns have arisen due to the amendments to the Housing Code in the form of an addition to Art. 45 part 2.1., By which the authority to hold an extraordinary meeting on IDT is vested in the authorized body of state power or local self-government. However, it should be clarified that the "addition" does not abolish the owners' right to hold meetings, but establishes a list of persons who can initiate them. And these persons will not always act to the detriment of the inhabitants.

What to do? How to reduce the risks of getting into the IDT program?

Follow the official websites of mayors, prefectures, administrations for any information on this topic. Since information can be hidden, you should keep a constant correspondence, finding out the plans of the city authorities for a particular house. It should be emphasized in the correspondence that private owners do not want to lose their property under any circumstances. It makes sense to hold a general meeting to consolidate this position and empower the council of the house or activists to represent the interests of the owners in all instances. Let me remind you that the prevailing jurisprudence related to challenging the protocols and decisions of general meetings suggests that the main thing for resolving a dispute is to clarify the real will of the majority and consistently and unswervingly defend it.