Problems of Reforming of Housing and Communal Services of Cities of Irkutsk Region in the 1990s

Abstract

The aim of the article is the analysis of main trends and implications reforms in housing and communal services of cities of Irkutsk region in the first post-Soviet decade. The subject of research is the reform of housing and communal services, which provided a radical change from the planning and administrative methods of regulation of the housing sector to market mechanisms. The study tested hypothesized that the attempts of state authorities to entrust the accumulated problems in the industry on municipalities in isolation from the reform of public utilities, domestic service etc., and, most importantly, empowerment of local government in the pricing and quality of public services, and are unable to lead to the desired results. In the course of writing were used research methods of social phenomena in historical perspective, analyzes a variety of information sources and literature. The benefits of this study in studied publications in local, regional and central periodicals, monographs and articles, as well as statistical materials. The article concludes that the formation of the mechanisms of the sphere housing and communal services occurred in the conditions of hard budget constraints, there was a constant search of balance in the cost of housing between the population and the budget. Consequently, not enough has been worked out, and the conditions of the contractual relationship. The city authorities in some cases had no effect on the prices for heat generation and water, their transport and distribution. Ultimately, these and other problems indicated a significant difficulties in the process of reforming of housing and communal services.