HRC "Memorial": Chechen authorities fail with their housing guarantees

Former inhabitants of the Temporary Accommodation Centres (TACs) in Chechnya, whom the Republic's authorities promised to provide housing in the first order, now have to pay for leased apartments or live with their relatives, reports the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Stirring up the process of closing TACs, when they were transformed into hostels, has led to mass violations of human rights. People were afraid of being violently ousted from the hostels without granting any alternative habitation. After the intervention of human rights organizations and protests of hostel tenants, the authorities have undertaken certain steps to accommodate those especially needy persons.

In particular, residents of TACs were offered 18,000 roubles per family to lease some housing for six months. Most of the families were not happy, as it can solve the problem for a short time. Besides, many of them will not be able to find leased housing: it is either in deficit or costs high and this money will end sooner.

The people, tired of endless in fact violent resettlements demanded a long-term solution of their housing problem. In response, the Republic's authorities began issuing formal letters of guarantee with an undertaken liability to provide habitation to the families ousted out of hostels as a matter of priority. But when the allocated money ended, many families had to pay for housing by themselves, or to nestle with their relatives and friends, as the release of the HRC "Memorial" reports. The statement is illustrated with a number of such stories.

In total in 2007, 17 TACs were disbanded in the territory of the Chechen Republic, which gave shelter to some four and a half thousand persons.