In the Urals, 66 orphans received houses with cardboard boxes instead of insulation

Alexander Dybin

The scandal broke out in the Chesmensky district of the Chelyabinsk region.

A group of orphaned children who received "housing" from the local administration refused to move into houses. The huts, in fact, turned out to be hastily put together summer houses. In the first winter, they began to crack and come apart at the seams. And with the frosts, they froze through. And when the new owners tried to figure out why it was so cold, it turned out that the builders used cardboard boxes instead of insulation.

"It is impossible to live in such apartments. There was a curious case when another check came, and after the door slammed behind them, the ceiling collapsed from vibration," said one of the victims Eugenia Klyukina.As Natalia Mamayeva, a senior assistant prosecutor of the Chelyabinsk Region, told Novye Izvestia, 66 people are listed as victims in total.

"Of these, in the interests of 10, decisions were made on the termination of housing contracts on the claims of the prosecutor, they are being executed in the bailiff service," the interlocutor said, "in the interests of 25 people, the district prosecutor filed a statement of claim on the obligation of the administration to conduct a survey of residential premises. The lawsuit is currently under consideration. In addition, a submission was made to the head of the district administration to protect the rights of 29 people".

Of all the orphans who received a "pumpkin house" instead of adequate housing, only two live in huts. Everyone else does not live in huts. Some of the orphans could not be interviewed: one of the victims is on compulsory treatment, one died, one emigrated to Italy, one was convicted, three were mobilized and two are wanted.

In the Chelyabinsk branch of the ONF, they are wondering. Who will be responsible for this situation? Moreover, not only for the suffering of orphans, but also for spending budget money. The administration paid 32 million rubles for the sheds.

"It is hardly rational to modernize these houses, since the foundation is crumbling in them", - says Anton, an expert of the Popular Front in the Chelyabinsk region Neverov. - Probably, in order to avoid spending on the construction of high-quality housing, responsible persons deliberately delay the process and there is a violation of the principle of judicial proceedings. The Investigative Committee will sort this out. In turn, we ask you to pay special attention to the rationality of spending large amounts of budget funds. Obviously, housing of such poor quality should not cost so much, respectively, the question arises: what were 32 million rubles really spent on? And most importantly, it is necessary to provide all these citizens with high-quality, comfortable living quarters."As it turned out, the official responsible for the appearance of such "housing" has been trying to bring to criminal responsibility since 2020.

Then a criminal case was initiated against the head of the district Department of Economy, Real Estate and Entrepreneurship Baranova. At first, under the article "Abuse of authority", but then the article was changed to a milder one - "Negligence". According to investigators, she accepted houses built for orphans without conducting an examination. At the same time, the case cannot be considered until now. First, the judge was transferred to another district. Then the case was considered, but the judge recused herself and since September last year the process has been launched anew with the questioning of all witnesses and the study of evidence. And the new – already the third – judge first went on vacation, and then on sick leave.

There is another criminal case under the article "Negligence", also in relation to the head of the Department of Economics Svetlana Stelmakh, who took part of the houses. But the case was initiated a year earlier, and during the trial, the official was released from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. After the hype, the Investigative Committee opened the third criminal case in December 2022. This time under the article "Abuse of authority". There are no defendants in it yet.

Almost 300 thousand orphans are waiting for housing

According to the law, an orphan leaving an orphanage at the age of 18 must get his own home. According to the Commissioner for Children's Rights under the President of Russia Maria Lvova-Belova, 288 thousand people are now in this queue. Most of them have already turned 18, that is, they went into independent life, being homeless. The authorities planned to eliminate the queue by 2025, but the pace leaves much to be desired.

The authorities intend to solve the problem of this queue by expanding the opportunities of local officials to purchase housing for orphans.

"The Accounts Chamber began to deal closely with problems related to housing provision for orphans and children left without parental care about three years ago," the press service of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation reported. – Following the results of the last event, a number of recommendations were developed for the Government of the Russian Federation. Some of them have been implemented. Thus, the powers of the Ministry of Education of Russia were transferred to provide subsidies to the regions of Russia for providing orphans The Ministry of Construction of Russia. Some barriers have been removed: for example, on the use of escrow accounts for housing construction or the provision of studios to orphaned children".