Shelter construction project leads to social tension in Volgograd region

The author of the construction project assures that the safety of the surrounding area will be ensured. Local residents are worried about the proximity of their children and homeless people.

Earlier, "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported that residents of the working settlement of Gorodishche launched a campaign against the proximity of a social project site helping homeless people. Locals believe that those left without a roof over their heads have no place next to large families.

In the summer of 2025, residents of the regional center of Gorodishche in the Volgograd region learned that a charitable organization intends to build a house of mercy on a vacant lot in the private sector, not far from a bus stop, school and kindergarten, to work with people in difficult life situations. In August, concerned citizens began writing complaints to supervisory authorities, the district administration and the governor's office. A resident of Gorodishche, unemployed Andrey Samofalov, told a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot" about this.

"Well, imagine, there is a kindergarten here, a school there. Children come to the bus stop, who live in the neighboring microdistrict and go to this school. And who will they meet at this stop? A special police post will have to be set up here so that they can be on duty and ensure our safety," the man was indignant.

Andrey said that he himself did not write complaints and did not sign collective appeals, since he considers this "senseless."

The initiators of appeals to the authorities and journalists hide their names from journalists. Thus, Svetlana, on the condition of anonymity, said that she is raising a daughter who goes to school.

"She is an independent teenage girl. She walks around the district center by herself and sometimes even goes to Volgograd to see her grandmother. And now I don’t know how to let her go out on the street. Asocial citizens will come to this house of mercy from all over the area and the regional center. So what, we’ll have to lead our child by the hand everywhere now. We don’t need such neighbors,” said Svetlana. She explained that the members of the initiative group have not yet received responses to their complaints, since the 30-day period has not yet passed.

Another woman, who did not give her name, also expressed concern for her children. Both her sons attend a school located near the site where the house of mercy is planned to be built.

“We clearly told the authorities that the safety of our children is more important than the well-being of those who have lost their well-being in life. "We don't need to lead children by the hand all the time, to shake with fear all the time when they are on the street," the woman said.

The founder of "Right to Life" and the "House of Mercy" project, Ksenia Chegodaeva, assured the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the "Right to Life" foundation does not concern her project in any way.

"The land (for the construction of the house of mercy) belongs to me personally. It is private property. The design documentation is still being prepared. The project is complex. Many aspects need to be taken into account. When we build, we will put (the facility) into operation, and only then will we transfer (it) to the organization. Now this is empty land on which there is a trailer," - said Ksenia Chegodaeva, without specifying which organization the house of mercy will be transferred to.

She explained that public hearings on her project "definitely took place." However, she could not name the exact date of these hearings, but noted that they were successful for her.

Ksenia said that the foundation's wards will be people who have found themselves in a difficult life situation. The social project plans to provide legal assistance, restore documents, provide clothing and the opportunity to wash and do laundry. She is not going to build a shelter.

"First, we plan to build an administrative building, because there are very serious requirements for a residential complex. We are not yet financially qualified for a dormitory. When the project is transferred to the organization, we will cooperate with law enforcement agencies. Before a person is moved in, they check whether he is wanted or not. The time spent in the center will be limited. It will not be possible to arrive there at night. "The territory will be guarded," Ksenia said.

Referring to the experience of other houses of mercy, Chegodaeva noted that such facilities and the contingent "do not pose any danger to local residents." "There will be ordinary people there who have found themselves in a difficult life situation. Mostly, these are old people who have found themselves without housing," Ksenia Chegodaeva explained.

The head of the Sobornik charity fund, the director of the homeless shelter in the village of Gornovodyanoye, Vyacheslav Golovin, is familiar with the author of the project to build a house of mercy in Gorodishche. Golovin spoke about his many years of experience in such social work.

"We constantly have conflicts. There are some comrades, such as the head of the village and her assistants. "They write complaints about us from time to time, saying that someone is afraid to let their children out on the playground because there are allegedly criminals in our shelter and it is not known what illnesses they have," Golovin said.

At the same time, Vyacheslav Golovin assured the journalist that infectious diseases are excluded among his wards. For example, tuberculosis "cannot be among his wards, since such patients are admitted to their home of mercy only after treatment, and it (tuberculosis) is curable."

"Everything else that is not prohibited, we have - oncology, after strokes, amputation of limbs, etc. We also have people who have been in prison. We do not make a closed regime for them - we have free access. The main condition is not to drink. "We remove drinkers after the second or third warning," said Vyacheslav Golovin.

Golovin told the story of one of the women held in the house of mercy in the village of Gornovodyanoye. Elena found herself in a difficult life situation in the summer of 2022. She had an ununited fracture of the bones of the left tibia and cataracts in both eyes. She moved around in a wheelchair and was practically blind. The head of the Sobornik Foundation did not disclose the circumstances of the woman's life and the reasons for her loneliness. Thanks to the efforts of specialists from the Sobornik Foundation and the house of mercy, Elena Zueva's health was practically restored.
"I had surgery on my eyes, then on my legs. And now I walk without crutches, and I can see. Thank you very much to this house of mercy. Now I am going to the Warm Welcome house of mercy in Moscow. "My documents will be restored there," the woman says in a video message published on the Sobornik Telegram channel.

Lawyer Roman Melnichenko noted that the Land Code identifies such a category of land as "land of populated areas" (Chapter XV). According to the lawyer, this category includes land plots as part of public and business land (Part 1 of Article 85), which, in particular, are intended for the construction of social facilities. "If the land plot for the "house of mercy" has this status, then everything is legal," Melnichenko believes.

"The desire of residents is important, but is not put above the law. All possible consequences that the public is concerned about are possible risks, as is the allocation, for example, of land in this village to SVO participants. Minimizing these risks is a direct task of law enforcement agencies and local governments, but their presence does not interfere with construction. The behavior of the village residents, in the form of publicly expressing their position, is legal, but immoral, since it is precisely caring for people in a difficult life situation that will serve as a good example for the upbringing of their children, about whom they care so much,” Roman Melnichenko expressed his opinion.