From the house to the humant hill: renovation in Lublin and Solntsevo went according to a tough scenario

Irina Mishina

Behind the beautiful words "integrated development of territories" and "renovation" in various districts, they have already seen the sad reality: eviction from apartments owned, the right to which is theoretically guaranteed by Article 35 of the Constitution, and relocation to unknown places with obvious deterioration of housing and living conditions.

LCD for the homeless

At one time, the renovation was lured not only by the promises of elevators and chrome towel rails. Through the mouths of the mayor and other city officials in 2017, it was proposed to enter into a new demolition program, see "how it goes", and in case of something, they guaranteed the possibility of leaving at any time (before the first signing of the exchange agreement by someone from the residents of the house). However, this promise of freedom to refuse to participate in renovation throughout Moscow turned into an almost forced relocation. Any attempts to save their homes from demolition (or, at least, to avoid relocation to the most illiquid new buildings on the outskirts of districts) are met with a tough rebuff.

In parallel with this, the city authorities engaged in a campaign of agitation for renovation. The outskirts of Moscow – Lublino and Solntsevo – are one of many where five-storey buildings still remain. But they seem to be living out their days…

At first glance, you can't dig in: it seems that housing, as prescribed by the law on renovation, is offered in the same area: from Krasnodarskaya Street, 16 residents are offered to move to the residential complex "Lublinsky Park" on Lublinskaya Street. This residential complex was built by PIK as a commercial housing. But the trouble is, no one buys this housing…

Of course, people who have lived in a five-story building all their lives have typical phobias: the fear of living above the 5th floor, the fear that the elevator will not work, the lack of bomb shelters and basements. They don't want to hear anything about the possibility of moving to a multi-storey building, even if they offer a larger square footage.

Elena, a resident of the house 16 on Krasnodarskaya Street: "There are moments in the new house that can be fixed – insufficient quality repairs, black mold, a non-working elevator. But there are things that cannot be fixed. Nearby there is a women's prison, the Lyublino-Sortirovochnaya station, that is, you will have to live under the sound of wheels, plus a large electrical substation under the windows and a social assistance center for people without a fixed place of residence. But this is not the worst thing: at a distance of 3-4 km there are aeration fields and a waste incineration plant. That is, according to the Rose of the Winds, everything will arrive at this LCD. In addition, this residential complex was built on the territory of a foundry and mechanical plant, which was then used as a waste dump. And houses were built on this land! In addition, the management company of this residential complex is PIK–Comfort, not Zhilishchnik. That is, it is impossible to guess what kind of payment card we will be drawn for all these "benefits"."

The intrigue is also added by the fact that the houses in which the residents of the five-storey building from Krasnodar-16 are going to be relocated (Lublinskaya- 80 building 7, Lublinskaya -76, building 5, Lublinskaya-76, building 4) are not on the list of those built under the renovation program. The list of launch sites is easy to check on the website of the Moscow government.

"The reason is that the Lublin Park Residential Complex is commercial new buildings that the PEAK could not sell due to their "interesting" location away from the infrastructure, next to a homeless shelter and a large freight railway station Lublin-sorting with its round-the-clock noise," explains lawyer Stanislav Stankevich.

Homeless people who do not reach the Social Assistance Center or are denied there find shelter on the stairs of the residential complex "Lublin Park". Therefore, it has already been dubbed "LCD bums".

Against this background, the answer to the residents who want to be relocated to this hell from the deputy head of the Department of Urban Planning Policy of Moscow, S. Degtyarev, looks quite comical. In particular, he writes the following verbatim:

"Within the framework of the renovation program, when implementing design solutions, special attention is paid to the development of social infrastructure that ensures accessibility for residents of socially significant services, products, goods, healthcare, education, social security and social protection of the population, retail trade, culture, leisure, physical education and sports, policing, civil defense and emergency situations."

It is difficult to imagine what other earthly benefits Mr. Degtyarev did not mention. And all this is applied to a humant hill standing next to a homeless shelter and railway tracks.

But maybe the tenants are offered a move due to the dilapidated condition of their house?

"Excellent brick house (walls 60 cm), individual project, ceilings from 3 meters, powerful infrastructure, transport accessibility. The houses still comply with Soviet SNIPS and SanPiNs for insolation, technical requirements, fire safety, etc. An old brick house is not a new high-rise building made of foam blocks, made according to new rules, or maybe with deviations from them (legally allowed), only it is impossible to live in a new house. What's there for the kids? Now there is a swimming pool nearby, several schools, a variety of clubs, sections, stadiums. And in the residential complex Lublin Park what? And NOTHING!", - says a local resident Vitaly Potapov.

It should also be taken into account that every move is a change of infrastructure, which is especially painful for people with children. Because moving is a change of school, kindergarten, polyclinic, that is, the whole way of life. However, a new school near the residential complex "Lublin Park" was recently handed over, but there are no kindergartens within walking distance. As well as there are no polyclinics - neither children's nor adults.

Hide-and-seek games with Moszhilinspektsii

Having assessed all the pros and cons of such relocation, residents of Krasnodar-16 held a meeting in April 2021, at which, according to all the norms of the law, more than half of the residents were present. 40% voted against entering the renovation. As you know, up to a third of the votes against are enough to get out of the renovation. But the house was not allowed to come out of the renovation. The story about this is a cross between a comic book and a detective story.

After the meeting, the residents brought his protocol to the local "Zhilishchnik", where they refused to accept it. They were taken to the Moszhilinspektsii of the South-Eastern district. But mysterious things started happening there.

"When we asked for the registration paper, they simply locked us in. The protocol of the owners' meeting on the withdrawal from the renovation program refused to take flatly. Then we went up to another department and complained, they told us "what an outrage", went down with us, and we heard negotiations with the management outside the door, who gave instructions to close and not let us in. That's what they did: they locked themselves away from us from the inside! It was possible to register the minutes of the meeting only at the Moscow City Housing Inspectorate on Mira Avenue," says Elena Potapova, a resident of house No. 16 on Krasnodarskaya Street.

But it didn't mean anything at all, because literally the next day the renovation, contrary to the decision of the meeting, began. It turned out that the residents of the communal apartments of this house agreed to a barter agreement, and in this case, renovation can no longer be avoided. Soon, the Lublin District Court refused to satisfy the residents of the house on Krasnodarskaya, 16, the claim to the Moscow Housing Inspectorate and the recognition of the decision to exclude the house from the renovation program illegal.

At the same time, it is interesting that the city authorities do not challenge the decisions of the meetings of homeowners against renovation, but at the same time they do not recognize the results of their decision. Meanwhile, according to the law, until the general meeting is challenged, its decision is valid.

Hooligans from the... renovation department?

In Solntsevo, people were going to move from a quite strong five-storey building on Matrosova Street, 25, a 5-minute walk from the metro to a remote area on Rodnikova Street, 5 a. It seems that everything is according to the law on renovation, relocation within the same area, but residents are also not happy.

"It's in some fields, the very edge of Solntsevo. If we move, it will take 20 minutes to get to the metro by bus. And the bus runs once an hour. The school was built within walking distance from the new residential complex of course. But it is designed for 500 seats, and there are already more than 800 people in it. A meeting against entering the renovation program was held on February 28, and literally immediately pressure began to be exerted on residents. Representatives of the renovation department of CJSC are now guarding us at the entrance and are aggressively persuading us to move. To be honest, it became scary to come in, these people behave so aggressively," local resident Lydia Korsakova told NI. A video recording of two employees of the renovation department of CJSC – Minaev and Mkrtchyan in the entrance of the house in a far from polite form talking with Lidia Korsakova, is at the disposal of the editorial office.

Initially, it was assumed that the renovation would improve people's living conditions. But it turned out to be the opposite.

"If you look at how the renovation program is being implemented in Moscow, it can be assumed that improving the living conditions of citizens is not its goal. It looks more like everything was started to get large plots of land at the disposal of the construction complex, provided with communications and social infrastructure. Apartment owners from houses undergoing renovation are moved to the most inconvenient, illiquid places. Eviction often goes to places where a private developer could not sell housing. But in this illiquid, budget funds allocated for renovation are "gladly" invested," lawyer Stanislav Stankevich believes.

But it's not even that that bothers, but the fact that the law turns out to be a completely surmountable obstacle in the struggle of Moscow officials for this very renovation, which eventually turns into a human tragedy for thousands of people.