Evening star., 1948-08-30
Special Soviet Decree
.GivesCitizens Right 10
Build and Own Home
By HE Assoeioisd Press


MOSCOW, Aug. 30.-A special de-
cree Of the Presidium of the Su-
preme Soviet today gave every Rus
sian citizen the right to build and
own . home.
At the same time, q decree Of the
Council OF Ministers of the U.S.S.R.
ordered municipal and rural govern
ments to make available to citizens
desiring to construct their own
homes land plots lin eternal use."
The one problem which has to be
solved now is how to get the house
built. There are no contractors to
whom the Soviet citizen can turn,
since private enterprise on an in
dividual basis Is illegal in this Soci-
alist state.
Building Co-ops A Possibility
There obviously are going to be
several ways Of getting homes built
OF course. Apparent prospects in
clude:
l. The citizen can build the house
himself. getting help from private
Neutrality-suspicious., bricklaye1s
plumbers-and purchasing the nee
essary materials from State retail
outlets.
2. 1t Is entirely possible that home
building cooperative organizations
VIII be formed to whom the pros
pective homeowner can turn for as.
sistance on a contractural basis ir
| constructing his house.
3. Within the next year it is quite
probable that prefabricated house.
will 60 on sale in Soviet retail store.
with the price probably includins
erection costs.
In any event, it appears that the
new DEGREES by the presidium anc
the Council Of Ministers are in
tended to get Russian citizens into
private homes and therefore the
government probably will do some
thing about seeing that they get
built.
The Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet is the agency which acts as
a legislative body when the Soviet
or parliament, is in recess. The
Council of Ministers corresponds to
the cabinet In other countries.
Five-Room Limit Set.
The decree provides that the
homes to be built may be of one or
two stories. up to five rooms. They
may be either inside or outside city
limits. The amount of land to be
allotted home builders, according to
the decree, would be from $50 to TOO
square yards in cities and from 800
to 1,400 square yards In rural areas.
The land area to be set aside must
come from city or State land funds
and their use for individual home
building must fit in with city plans,
by the terms of the new DEGREES
1t is made clear in the new law that
the land is to be given the builders
free of charge but they are to pay
an annual rental.
Such land rental exists at the
present time for owners OF individual
homes and summer houses and are
presently, at any rate-not high
Given Right in Constitution.
The new law, giving citizens the
right to build and own their own
homes as private property corre-
spond with a clause in the Soviet
constitution, which gives citizens
this right.
Up to the present time, however,
there apparently has been no reg
ular and systematic way by which
any citizen could 60 to his local gov
ernment to acquire the land plot he
needed.
Factory workers and others recently
have been encouraged to build their
homes by themselves. Their factories
have assured them of land, helped
them with materials, plans and
technical knoW-how.
The new DEGREES are expected to
be supplemented in the near future
by other measures to smooth the
path for the Russian homebuilder