Pilipenko I.V. Moscow: Publishing House “Scientific library”, 2023. 600 p. (in Russian)
ISBN 978-5-907672-41-3
The book examines the evolution of main indicators of housing construction in the USSR
and compares performance of the 15 Union Republics during the period from 1918 to 1990
using a database composed by the author from more than 120 official statistical yearbooks of
the USSR and the Union Republics. The work addresses not only state housing construction but
also construction of individually-owned houses, activities of housing construction cooperatives
and construction in rural areas that have been often overlooked in the contemporary Russian
and foreign scholarly literature.
The author distinguishes main stages of housing construction in the USSR, analyses the
data collected and calculates 89 indicators on housing completions in urban and rural areas,
the evolution of the housing stock, flats and houses built, and inhabitants who improved their
housing conditions in each of the 15 Union Republics. Based on the objective data, this book
considers such popular questions in the modern public discourse as the problem of communal
apartments, barracks, individual housing ownership and opportunities for the population of
the USSR to improve their housing conditions on their own.
This monograph is for academics and students, scholars and specialists on housing
construction, the utilities sector and economic history of the Russian Federation and the USSR;
for governmental officials of federal and regional authorities that deal with the utilities sector
and housing issues.