OREANDA-NEWS  In Russia, they wanted to reimburse spending on housing and communal services (HCS) to families whose expenses exceed 15 percent of income. This initiative was made by deputies of the State Duma, Izvestia writes.

The parliamentarians noted that the total amount of household debts for housing and communal services has grown record — according to Rosstat, in 2023 the figure increased by 8.7 percent, to 833.5 billion rubles. The dynamics is due to the high annual growth of utility tariffs and the slowly growing salaries of users.

"This dynamic has a negative impact on the poor and large families, which, in turn, does not contribute to demographic growth," the deputies said. The State Duma recalled that 2024 has been declared the Year of the Family, which means that we need to work on improving demographic policy.

"In a message to the Federal Assembly dated February 29 this year, the President noted that among large families the poverty level is 30 percent and is much higher than the average poverty level for other social groups. This dynamic has a negative impact on the institution of the family, which is why it is necessary to increase measures of state support for families," the parliamentarians explained.

Previously, the regions of Russia with the lowest share of housing and communal services costs were named. The Astrakhan region turned out to be the leader of the rating — there, the "communal" accounts for about 6.3 percent of total consumer spending.