Eurasia Foundation: Kazakhstan Apartment Owners

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A Eurasia Foundation Grantee Profile

Market, Civil Society, and Democracy from the First Floor Up:
The Petropavlovsk Regional Association of Apartment Proprietors

Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan

Chris Runyan, Eurasia Foundation Almaty Regional Office

Sergei Khudyakov looks out onto the southern Siberian skyline of Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan, with an experienced and weathered face. "This is just a tough place to live. I’ve spent my whole life here, and now is our greatest challenge." The city has one of the lowest standards of living in the country. Its five large factories once employed many of the city’s residents, but the factories have fallen silent.

With low employment, a remote location, and little in the way of prospects for international investment, living conditions—especially housing—have greatly deteriorated. "The buildings are just old. If we don’t make major repairs to the plumbing regularly, we could have big problems." Khudyakov works for the Petropavlovsk Regional Association of Apartment Proprietors, a local organization that has received two Eurasia Foundation grants since 1997 to help local housing associations learn management skills that will help them better address housing conditions in the region.

The association started working with homeowners in 1995 as national privatization of apartment buildings created a management vacuum. Between 1996 and 1997, 5,000 housing associations emerged in the oblast. As each apartment building, the standard housing unit in urban centers, was privatized, its management became the responsibility of the individual apartment owners through the housing association. Each resident should, in theory, be active in their local housing association and attend periodic meetings to address the wide range of issues that affect it. This congress of neighbors is then to address and remedy persistent problems such as plumbing, trash collection, electricity, noise, heating, hot water, and gas.

Many of these organizations need to develop their abilities to resolve a broad range of problems. The Soviet legacy has meant deteriorating housing for most citizens of Kazakhstan. The Soviet government hurriedly built most of northern Kazakhstan’s cities in the 1960s and 70s, focusing attention on meeting state targets rather than on building quality structures. Inferior concrete and other materials meant that a lifetime of maintenance began on many of the buildings the minute they opened. At one time, the government was responsible for the upkeep of apartment buildings, including providing reserve building supplies, but that support ended with the advent of privatization. Now, as tenants bear the brunt of a wrenching economic transition to a market economy, there are fewer resources for inexpensive home repair materials, or even for making monthly contributions to housing associations. Most housing associations ask apartment owners to pay between three and four dollars a month for basic maintenance. "It’s a struggle to even get that much," says Khudyakov, "but if they lose their homes, they won’t get anything from the state."

Khudyakov has dedicated his efforts to averting this seemingly inevitable outcome. "People are starting to realize that in the end it’s much more valuable to work together and act as a group to solve problems. With the right tools in our hands, we’ll be able to make buildings cleaner and more organized, and we’ll be ready to react to all kinds of situations." The Petropavlosk Regional Housing Association was the second organization in Kazakhstan to try and assist housing associations and coordinate their activities. With a $13,538 grant from the Eurasia Foundation in September 1997, the association focused on providing almost 2,000 housing association managers, accountants, and treasurers with basic managerial training and step-by-step guidance for putting together management structures.

"Everyone was confused, and no one knew what to do," explains Khudyakov. "A lot of mistakes were made. Regional governments and akims [governors] were confused over what they could or should do to help, and this led to inaction. They wanted to help, but they didn’t know what to do. Many of them weren’t used to working in real partnerships." The association formed information-sharing groups and a network to exchange experiences among housing association officers. They began publishing a monthly bulletin and produced a series of 20-minute public information spots on local television. Audience response was great, and the television appearances have given Khudyakov and the association credibility in the community.

To further the effects of its general awareness campaign, the association provided legal counseling for apartment owners facing housing problems. In one case, during the winter of 1998, a building reported that almost a third of its residents had not paid their heating bills. Since there are no individual meters for customers, the utility company shut off heat for the whole building. In Petropavlovsk, where winter temperatures regularly reach negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit, this is a serious risk to life. A group of paying customers approached the association, which immediately filed a lawsuit on their behalf. Stories and editorials about the situation soon appeared in local newspapers. When the utility company realized the vigorous advocacy that Khudyakov’s association was providing, they returned heat to the building. Later, after the utility company and the association had established a working relationship, the company learned that they could consult the association about everything from pricing to billing changes to system upgrades. This continuing dialogue has helped all parties find common ground and solutions to disputes.

Khudyakov and the association have also been instrumental in establishing a strong working relationship with the local akim of Petropavlovsk. For the past four years, the association has used office space in the akimat—the akim’s office building. They have his support, and his office has repeatedly recognized them as a useful and objective source for information and analysis. "The local government knows that we are here to help and bring greater stability and improved living standards for the general population. The akim was in construction himself before entering politics, and he knows the poor standards of the industry," says Khudyakov.

Khudyakov’s efforts have made a real impact in the daily and even hourly lives of his clients. At a time when people in Kazakhstan are looking inward and aim only to provide the basics for their own lives, the Petropavlovsk Regional Association of Apartment Proprietors is demonstrating the importance of acting together to tackle problems that can be solved through community ownership.

March 2001