http://www.ewi.info/system/files/reports/Modernizing%20Municipal%20Finance%20of%20the%20Kaliningrad%

housing; organizing the construction and maintenance of municipal housing; creating conditions for housing construction.

By the beginning of the 2000s, the state was basically unable to fulfill its housing obligations. The rights of citizens to housing and the obligations of the state to provide housing were declared but there were no funds to realize them in full. As for municipalities, they automatically took over the functions of lower-tier levels in the former Soviet system for providing people with housing. In real life it all stopped at the stage where the waiting list was drawn up, but the problem was not solved both due to a lack of funds in local budgets and because municipalities had not made a sound political decision to take on this function.

A group of initiators at the federal level came up the following approach to this problem: the state cannot and should not assume responsibility for providing all Russian citizens with housing, meaning that municipalities can assess housing needs better.

In accordance with this approach, the following position was formulated; it provided the basis for housing reform and was translated later into a package of 27 laws on affordable housing: 1. There are citizens who can solve their housing problems on their own, and the state should only create conditions and opportunities for them.

2. There is a separate category of citizens who have low incomes and who should be helped by the state in solving their housing problems.

3. There are separate categories of citizens who are provided with different types of specialized housing.

4. In addition, the state can use its housing stocks for the resolution of its problems (for example, provide housing to civil servants or other categories of citizens).

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