Chapter IV INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction financial resources through taxation, especially through the federal distribution of taxes, which During the drafting of this chapter the institutional are collected locally and distributed among the framework of the Russian Federation’s housing three levels of government either in accordance sector underwent some major changes, in with rules laid down by legislation or regulated particular with regard to the institutional through negotiations. The federal Government has responsibilities of the federal Government. The also created a system of tariffs for housing and analysis in this chapter is based primarily on the utility services that are to be followed by local institutional set-up as it existed until March 2004, authorities when charging households for the but will also give an account of the changes relevant services. effected since then. The key federal institution for the housing sector until March 2004 was the State Committee for A. Institutions involved in housing policy Construction, Housing and Municipal Economy implementation (Gosstroy). Since 9 March 2004, it has been the Federal Agency ”Gosstroy” under the Ministry of There are three levels of government in the Industry and Energy. The Federal Agency has Russian Federation, each its own with executive authority for inter-industrial regulation competencies. in construction, architecture, urban planning, housing policy and public housing. Federal institutions The responsibilities of the State Committee for The federal institutions are responsible for the Construction, Housing and Municipal Economy State’s unity and Constitution, its sovereignty and were complex, covering all major aspects of territorial integrity. State power is exercised by planning and construction, but also of the built the President, the Federal Assembly (the environment. Federation Council and the State Duma), the federal Government and the federal courts. The State Committee had about 450 full-time specialists employed in the head office. In The State Duma does not have a separate housing addition, it had under its authority a system of committee. Its key housing-related units are the about 52,000 organizations all over the country Committee on Industry, Construction and and at all levels of government. There were about Technology and the Committee on Civil, 50 institutions for research and development, and Arbitrage and Process Law. Depending on the also about 40 institutions for education and topic, the Committees on Property, on Social training, consultancy and licensing, as well as a Policy, on Economic Policy or on Local Self- specialized State library on construction and government may be involved in the discussions. architecture, a museum of architecture, exhibition halls, etc. The Government of the Russian Federation consists of 14 ministries, 34 federal services and The State Committee was the initiator and the 28 federal agencies (March 2004). Ministries main responsible body for the major housing- develop policy and regulatory documents. Federal related and federally targeted programmes services provide control functions. Federal without, however, having any vertical power on agencies are the real “executive” bodies. The housing issues. The State Committee did not have Government prepares and submits bills for federal the authority to command from top to bottom and legislation and the federal budget to the State support these commands with relevant funding, Duma and ensures implementation of the budget The State Committee’s competence was only by submitting relevant reports. The federal ‘collaborative’ or ‘recommendatory’ in particular Government plays an important role in generating with regard to the heads of regional 44 Country Profiles on the Housing Sector – Russia administrations. The State Committee established may be organized independently without any the Central Council of State Housing Inspections interference from the higher authorities. However, – a system of inspectorates to monitor locally the this does not mean that the State completely quality of housing construction and utility abstains from regulating their structure and services. To date, State housing inspectorates competence. The Constitution recognizes and have been created by 82 regional administrations guarantees their rights, but also establishes some (“subjects of the Federation”), but only 40 of them basic responsibilities for them. Currently, there are administratively independent. The others are are 13,383 local self-governments, of which about still part of the local housing management 1,300 are urban. structures. The national housing reform generally aims to devolve the major responsibility for Local authorities are the main executive agencies implementing federal housing policy from the that provide housing and utility services. About federal to the lower levels of government. 8,500 municipalities have their own housing stock and are thus responsible for its management and The changes in government structure effected in maintenance. The major competencies of the March 2004 were still evolving at the time of municipalities in housing are: finalizing this study. It was therefore not possible here to say with certainty what the new institutional set-up would look like or to judge • Administering, maintaining and operating what impact this would have on housing policy municipal housing and non-residential design. premises; • Planning and developing the municipal Regional institutions territories; • Creating the conditions for developing Executive power in most regions is exercised dwellings and buildings of public personally by the highest elected official called importance; head of administration, governor, president or • Organizing, administering and developing sometimes chairman of the government. The the municipal electricity, gas, heating, structure and the role of the regional governments water and sewage utility companies; are similar to those of the federal level in • Providing heating fuel to residents and particular with regard to the distribution of municipal institutions (oil, coal, timber, resources and the execution of power. The etc.); competence of the regional governments includes • Building and maintaining municipal duties that cannot be performed by municipal roads; governments, such as developing infrastructure, but also regional housing programmes. The • Operating emergency fire services. regional government approves the budget proposals of the municipalities, which in the case In the foreseeable future municipalities are of new public housing construction is broken expected to continue to play a predominant role in down into every single project. In many cases housing. They are the major bodies for operating different ministries (or committees or and maintaining the housing stock, and for departments) deal with construction and housing providing the most important utilities through within the regional governments. their local service companies. Although municipalities allocate about 40-60% of their Local self-government institutions annual budgets to housing, their financial and operational autonomy in housing is quite limited. Local self-governments, which are the municipal They do receive considerable support from the entities, represent a rather new component in the budgets of higher levels. country’s power structure. According to the 1993 Constitution, their institutions are not institutions of State power and should act independently and The federal legislation and institutional guidelines be answerable to the local population. The tightly regulate the major processes in housing. underlying idea is that the local self-governments The federal authorities set the legal framework Institutional Framework 45 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ and decide on housing reform. Each municipality • Professional associations and trade has to implement the housing reform locally. The unions; law gives local self-governments the authority to • Federations of commercial companies determine the most suitable administrative acting on the housing market; structure for managing their local housing and • Associations of municipalities; utility service provisions within the budgetary • Research and educational organizations; limits and the targets set. • Housing movements; • Homeowners’ associations. Within the administrative structure of the local self-governments, the city council typically sets Professional and commercial associations the housing management guidelines for the local government administration, where the deputy Housing-related professional associations and head – due to the importance of housing for the trade unions unite specialists to defend their local policy and budget – is quite commonly professional rights, as well as to influence the responsible for housing matters. The sphere of their professional activity – housing administration has to cover three major issues: policy, architecture and design, land administration, and real-estate transactions. Some • Developing new public housing and examples with long traditions are: the Russian public buildings, incl. major repair of National Urban Society, the Union of Architects existing buildings;