User:LunaEclipse/Housing in the Soviet Union

A brezhnevka in Tbilisi, Georgia

A khrushchevka in Tver Oblast, Russia

History

See also: Urban planning in communist countries

Almost all of the urban housing stock in the Soviet Union was state-owned, with private property being prohibited in urban areas; the size of private housing in rural areas was limited. High-rise apartment complexes were a large majority of the stock. Local government organizations were in charge of renting arrangements; in company towns, state corporations were put in charge of the task. Rent was low to the point that maintenance costs could not be paid; as a result, the housing's quality quickly decreased, with vandalism becoming frequent. Apartments were typically a third or half of those found in Western Europe at the time, they had joint-access kitchens and bathrooms, which would be shared by multiple tenants.

By the 1990s, the housing sector was privatized, and the need for state-sponsored construction began to wane. Some tenants were given a title for free, while others went through paperwork and decided to keep paying their rent. By the first half of the decade, after the Soviet Union had dissolved,

See also

• Khrushchevka
• Soviet urban planning ideologies of the 1920s