In order to solve such a painful issue for most Russians regarding the purchase of their own housing, there are several social programs at the state level that are aimed specifically at improving living conditions for low-income citizens. Since legally every person has the right to housing, and it is very difficult to realize it without financial assistance from outside, you can take advantage of special benefits and get on the waiting list to get an apartment. This is done subject to the following conditions:
- Official confirmation of the status of a low-income person;
- Lack of own housing or living in premises that are unsuitable.
If these requirements are met, the provision of state assistance is formalized by appropriately contacting the local administration or other responsible institution, after preparing a number of requested documents.
Each person registered is assigned an initial number, which will change as the queue progresses. Therefore, each participant in the social program needs to periodically monitor the progress of the lists.
Who is eligible for free housing?
If you want to know your housing queue, you most likely fall into one of the following categories:
- Low-income families . Status alone is not enough: Russians must live in a house recognized as unsafe or have property whose area is less than the established norm for 1 family member in the region;
- Orphans (if there is no housing or inheritance);
- Families with a disabled person or a person whose health condition requires the provision of separate living space;
- Military personnel;
- Federal civil servants serving in the federal executive body and recognized as needing improved housing conditions;
- Teachers, medical workers;
- Young families recognized as needing improved housing conditions;
- Citizens who have lost their property , for example, as a result of a program for the demolition of dilapidated buildings, can also count on receiving housing
The Regional Construction Fund provides the opportunity to get on the waiting list for an apartment to citizens who own a building where one of the types of housing and communal services is missing (the supply of gas, electricity, water, heating does not work).
Lawyer Anton Shcherbak comments: If you are not yet in line to improve your living conditions or doubt whether this is required, contact the administration of your region. There they must explain to you your rights to additional living space and the procedure for collecting documents. If you are a government employee or military personnel, contact your employer or human resources department.
You can also use Internet services. For example, you live in Moscow and want to know if you are entitled to additional square meters? Then there is a special test for you on a possible way to improve your living conditions.
What to do if you are not in the queue?
In this case, you need to contact the local administration in person as soon as possible and find out what’s wrong. The department is required to provide a written response with the reason for removal from the housing queue.
If the results show that the removal from the queue was unlawful, you can go to court with a claim for reinstatement. And if the court satisfies the claim, then the citizen must be put back in the queue with his place saved, and not at the end.
Disputes of this nature, as a rule, require consultation with a competent lawyer, since officials sometimes illegally remove people from the queue in order to satisfy their own interests or those of their acquaintances. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you can contact our lawyers for a free consultation.
The principle of queue movement
In order not to be deceived and not to feed yourself with unnecessary hopes, you should know how the distribution occurs. After submitting documents, citizens are assigned a queue number for housing. Using this number, citizens can determine their progress. Depending on your situation, you fall into one of the groups:
- applicants receiving housing out of turn;
- applicants receiving housing first;
- recipients on a general basis.
Below you can familiarize yourself with these categories in more detail and determine which category you fall into.
First of all
The following can count on priority receipt of an apartment:
- Disabled people of groups 1 and 2;
- Participants in BOB, combat operations on the territory of the Russian Federation and other states;
- Families of missing and killed military personnel;
- Employees of law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police, the customs service;
- Heroes of Russia, Heroes of Labor, veterans of the housing and communal services sectors;
- citizens who received the Order of Glory or the Order of “3rd Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces”;
- Heroine mothers, single mothers, large families and couples giving birth to twins, triplets;
- People with severe chronic diseases who, according to medical reports, cannot live in the same room with other relatives.
In accordance with Art. 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, the regional administration provides housing to the specified categories in the first place
Under preferential conditions, those whose property is recognized as unsafe or unsuitable for habitation can count on an apartment. Property status is assigned by the social service commission in the region.
In addition, large families in need of improved housing conditions also have priority rights to receive subsidies. To do this, they need to be included in the regional program.
Why do you need to know the queue number?
After registering to receive free housing, the applicant receives a specific account number. This is his case number, based on which you can track movement in the queue. The number itself is not serial and does not change over time, but it is needed in order to find out where the applicant is in the queue. This is needed for the following reasons:
- Timely response when excluded from the queue . According to the rules, the applicant must be notified that he has been excluded from the queue. But in practice this does not always happen or, what happens much more often, the notification arrives too late. A person has only 3 months to challenge the decision and be reinstated in the queue. In many cases, exclusion is done specifically in order to “promote” some other person forward. Of course, the initiators of this procedure are not interested in notifying the excluded person about this fact in a timely manner. To avoid problems, it is recommended to check your position in the queue at least once every 3 months or more often. If it turns out that the applicant is no longer in the queue, the problem must be resolved immediately (most often through the court). Otherwise, everything will have to start again.
- In order not to miss your turn to receive housing . The fact that the applicant’s turn has come and he can complete the documents (receive housing or a certificate) must also be reported. But this is not always done or not in a timely manner. It is also necessary to know the position in the queue in order not to miss the moment when it will be possible to apply for the assistance the person is entitled to from the state. As you approach the first position, it is recommended to check the order more and more often.
- Tracking the queue for an approximate understanding of when an apartment will be allocated/a certificate will be issued . This procedure also helps to at least approximately determine when it is the applicant’s turn.
Example: If a person is 100th in the queue, and in 3 months (since the previous check) he has moved up by only 3 people, then we can assume that in a year the movement will be made by only 12 positions. In this example, the applicant will be able to obtain housing in approximately 8-10 years.
The queue is not displayed in open form. The applicant cannot know who is in line behind him or in front of him. Serial number only. This causes indignation among many, since it can be assumed that a number of people “pass” in line much faster, simply bypassing many positions. But nothing can be done about this, since open information will be a violation of the rules of confidentiality of citizens of the Russian Federation.
How to determine your place?
To be aware of when to apply for a new apartment, beneficiaries should regularly find out their place on the waiting list. You can view your queue number in several ways: at the MFC, through the online resource “State Services”, on the regional portal, or during a personal visit to the administration of the subject.
Via the Internet on the Moscow government services website
Residents of the capital can look at the queue for an apartment in Moscow via the Internet. The website of the mayor of the capital, mos.ru, allows you not only to submit documents for housing in Moscow online, but also to obtain information about the status of the provision of the service.
You can find out your number within 10 minutes here - https://www.mos.ru/pgu/ru/services/link/157/?onsite_from=56532. Information is provided only to individuals and their legal representatives.
On mos.ru you can find out the serial number in the queue for an apartment if the citizen provides passport details. When receiving information, an authorized representative will need a notarized power of attorney.
An online request allows you to view the electronic queue for housing. Information about citizens registered in other regions of the country is located in the housing committee of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation or the website of the local administration. For example, Russians can check the progress of the queue for housing (St. Petersburg) on the city portal gov.spb.ru in the “Checking application status” section.
Through the portal "State Services"
The unified state portal “State Services” provides citizens with a wide range of social opportunities.
through the State Services portal (there is no such option) , but you can find out information about documents, deadlines for receiving and features of providing information.
The portal contains information on how to check the queue for housing on the local administration website. Contact information is indicated (for example, the telephone number of the housing and communal services for orphans' affairs), the timing of the provision of services (1 day for submitting documents and 30 for consideration), and features.
In the local administration
Those who do not trust the Internet can find out information during a personal visit to the regional administration. Civil service employees help you find out your queue for an apartment using your personal number .
If citizens do not know which number they have been assigned, they can submit a request. The number is issued immediately after joining the program; it is provided online. Only the owners or their representatives can find out the queue number for housing.
To do this, you need to provide the owner’s passport, documents for the apartment and information about government support. The duration of the service is from 1 to 10 days . It is acceptable to receive a response to your request via email or telephone number.
Through MFC
Citizens can make an appointment online, on the website of the regional MFC, or in person. To find out about the number and promotion at the MFC, you need to take a coupon (online or in the center) and submit documents .
Information is provided to the MFC upon written request. The period for receiving information does not exceed 30 days. The service is only possible for those for whom benefits are issued: other family members do not have access to the information. It is allowed to issue information to a legal representative with the presentation of relevant documents.
Write a request
As a rule, in all major cities and regions, the government website contains information about the waiting list for housing. If you have not found it on the Internet, you can submit a written appeal to the regional, district or city social support authority.
In your application, please indicate your full name, place of registration and address, date of registration as a person in need, registration number, and other information.
All authorities are required to respond to your request within 30 days. If you have not received an answer, you can write to the prosecutor's office and the violators will be held accountable.
How to find out your account number
As mentioned above, in order to find out your place in the queue, you need to have information about your account number. It is indicated in the notification that the applicant is registered. If for some reason this document is not available (for example, lost), then you can obtain the necessary information from the organization where the documents were submitted. For example, the local administration, the department of social protection of the population, and so on.
When visiting, you need to take your passport as a citizen of the Russian Federation with you. Also, most likely, you will need to write an application in free form with a request to indicate an account number, but most often it is done without it - the organization’s employees find the applicant in the database using passport data and provide the account number. It is recommended to write it down so you don’t have to deal with this issue all the time.
If the applicant is not found, it is possible that since the last application he has already been removed from the queue for one reason or another. It is recommended to immediately try to understand the situation and, if necessary, go to court.
Features for different categories
Service for military personnel
There is a special website for this category of people - dom.mil.ru. There you can find out information about your position in the unified register of housing for military personnel.
For orphans
In many regions, there are online services for obtaining information about the provision of housing for graduates of orphanages. To find out information about yourself, you need to go to the website of the regional ministry or department of social support and protection.
To do this, just type in the search engine the phrase “Social protection authority of the ……….. region.” Further on the site you can find such a section. Enter your details and get the information you need.
Who might be in line?
Free apartments are, of course, not provided to all Russians, but only to certain categories of the population:
- military personnel;
- children who lost their parents early;
- people whose apartments are located in a building that is officially recognized as unsafe and subject to demolition;
- Chernobyl victims;
- families where a person lives who is sick with a severe form of a chronic disease from those listed in Government Decree No. 378;
- large families;
- low-income citizens in dire need of housing;
- citizens who lost their homes as a result of a natural disaster.
To receive a subsidy, you must prove that the family really needs housing.
