More than 20 orphans and children left without parental care have received social apartments in new buildings in Vitebsk
A solemn handover of keys to 24 new residents took place at the Vitebsk City Executive Committee. Some of the lucky ones came to the celebration with their spouses, and some with babies in their arms.
Alexander and Anastasia Tuskevich eagerly awaited this event. This summer, the couple celebrates their first wedding anniversary. Moreover, their family will soon be growing. The couple came to Vitebsk by assignment after graduating from the Gorki Agricultural Academy. He works as a land management engineer at the Vitebskgiprozem Design Institute, and she is an economist at an agricultural enterprise.
– We live in a dormitory provided by my employer, – Alexander explained. – When we found out that we were expecting a baby, we decided to move into a rented apartment, as the existing room would be too cramped for three. And we want to create better living conditions for a young child. Now we have a place to live, and we can save money to buy our own place.
– We are both from the Ushachi district. We have been in Vitebsk for almost two years, but we understood that buying our own apartment in such a large city while spending our salary on rent was beyond our means. Therefore, social housing is a great stroke of luck for us. We didn't expect to receive it so quickly, – adds Anastasia. – We have already visited the house in Bilevo where we were offered an apartment, and we liked the area.
The mayor of the city, Viktor Nikolaikin, congratulated the new residents and presented them with the coveted keys. He also spoke about the prospects for the development of infrastructure in the microdistricts where they received their apartments.
Such an initiative to support orphans and children left without parental care has become a good tradition for Vitebsk. This year, 39 billion rubles were allocated from the city budget for these purposes, of which about 25 billion have been utilized. The construction of social housing in the regional center continues.
As reported by Marina Areshchenko, Head of the Housing Policy Department of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee, last year 17 apartments were provided for social use to this category of citizens, in 2014 – 42 plus these 24. Soon, another 51 people will celebrate their housewarming. As a rule, the city offers one- and two-room apartments, but in the future it is planned to include three-room apartments in the list, as by the time they receive social housing, some already have families.
As of today, there are 427 orphans and children left without parental care in Vitebsk who are entitled to social housing. Of these, almost half are already adults. By the way, it is orphans who make up the main part of those in need of social housing in the capital of Pridvinye. In total, this list includes 612 citizens, including large families, participants in combat operations in other countries, victims of the Chernobyl accident, and other categories with such a right.
Natalia Ryzhkova, "Vitebskiye Vesti"