THE DEBTS OF RUSSIANS FOR HOUSING AND COMMUNAL SERVICES HAVE GROWN TO 900 BILLION

Almost 900 billion rubles at the end of the first quarter of 2023 are the debts of citizens for housing and communal services (housing and communal services). This is reported by Izvestia with reference to Rosstat data.

As the newspaper notes, the debt of Russians to resource-supplying organizations increased by 15.8%, to management companies — by 1.2%. According to Tatiana Vepretskaya, director of the Non–profit Partnership "National Housing Congress", the main reason for what is happening is the gradual increase in prices for services.

At the same time, according to Sergei Kolunov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, today there is no way to influence debtors. Electricity and water continue to flow into their apartments.

"Debts for housing and communal services continue to grow, including due to the inability of resource-supplying organizations and the Criminal Code to influence debtors to the fullest extent," Kolunov stressed.

According to his colleague Alexander Yakubovsky, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing, the reason for the growth of debts for housing and communal services are also unscrupulous management companies. They do not transfer the money collected from residents. The deputy noted that it was for this reason that they decided to create a special account for collecting fees for housing and communal services.