Monitoring Russia"s early experience with housing allowances

Because housing allowances constitute the country"s first income-tested program, the significance of its performance transcends the housing sector. Tenant payments are being increased in steps over a five-year period to cover full operating costs; a housing allowance program was to be operational in each city when rents rose. This paper reports the results of an initial assessment of the housing allowance program in two cities. The assessment focuses on the extent to which income-eligible households know about the program, their participation rates, and their experience in becoming recipients. Survey results show disappointingly low levels of knowledge about the program and extremely low participation rates. While both can in part be explained by the low average benefit levels at this stage in the program of rent increases, they clearly call for greater effort by local and national administrations to inform the population. (Author abstract)