Administrative practices in Russia's housing allowance programme

Implementation of housing allowances is an integral part of Russia's progra mme of systematic rent increases on state and municipal rental units which began in 1994. Because housing allowances constitute the country's first in come-tested programme, its performance transcends the housing sector. Rents are being increased in steps to cover full operating costs by the middle o f the current decade. Primary administrative responsibility for the program me rests at the local level. Since the rate at which rents increase is dete rmined by each municipality, progress varies. Arguably, the quality of the programme's administration may influence acceptance of both the programme a nd broader economic and political reforms. Reported here are the results of a first-time assessment of the practices of local housing allowances offic es (HAOs) who administer the programme. Field work included on-site reviews at 17 HAOs and analysis of about 1200 files of programme beneficiaries. Fo r administrative practices covering such areas as the presence of written j ob descriptions, written guidelines for intake workers, generation of repor ts for higher-level authorities and setting standards for the routine revie w of files of applicants determined to be eligible for benefits, applicants rejected and time during which processing of approved cases should be comp leted, HAOs had a fair record. Generally, 2-4 of the studied offices failed the standards set out in the paper. However, frequent instances of incompl ete record-keeping about HAO operations limit our conclusions and highlight an area definitely needing improvement. On the other hand, and important f or programme credibility, errors in computing subsidies paid to beneficiari es were found to be universally very low. Overall, HAO performance is adequ ate but highly variable and improvements are clearly needed. The results ca n be interpreted as being consistent with HAO staff acceptance of housing a llowances as a legitimate replacement for the previous broad entitlement to benefits that worked through controlled rents in state housing. The adequa te operation of HAOs should work to strengthen popular support of broader e conomic and political reforms.