Development of Housing and Communal Infrastructure of the Kemerovo Region in 1946–1950

Abstract

The present research features the state of housing and communal infrastructure in the Kemerovo region. The author identifies the patterns and features of its development in 1946–1950. Most of the archival data have never been introduced into scientific literature. In the postwar years, the housing and communal services in the region failed to meet the demands of the growing urban population; there were not enough municipal institutions, and the sanitary and epidemiological situation was unfavorable. New urban settlements lacked municipal infrastructure. This problem had begun in the pre-war years and persisted in the post-war period. The population was forced to use random and substandard water sources, and there was no sewage, while a lot of citizens lived in crowded barracks and dormitories. Financing of the social sphere increased in the late 1950s. As a result, the pace of housing construction increased, new water pipe systems and central heating were introduced, and the sewerage network expanded. These activities improved the local living standards and led to a reduction in the morbidity and mortality. However, the constant growth of the urban population in the region under conditions of accelerated industrialization complicated the state of the housing and communal infrastructure. As a result, Kuzbass failed to meet sanitary standards of housing per capita in 1959. Only electric lighting demonstrated an almost 100 % coverage of the residential premises. The development of housing and communal infrastructure in the region was just beginning, while rural areas remained untouched. The Kemerovo region failed to meet the average RSFSR standards for the development of housing and communal services.