Appeals related to housing issues are received by the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation each day. Only in 2016, more than 7,000 complaints concerning housing and communal legislation were received.

One of these appeals came from citizen K., born in 1991, with a request to assist in her complicated issue. The girl said that she belongs to the category of orphans and legally free children. At an early age she lost her mother and father, then the role of guardian was taken over by her relative N., and K. began to live with her aunt in Moscow region.

In 2002, K. and her guardian obtained the ownership of a 14-square-meter living space in a communal apartment in Moscow. In 2015, K. gave birth to a boy. Later, her son was also registered in this room, since K. did not have any other housing.

However, the court held that the girl could not live in this room, since the living space did not meet the social norms defined by Russian legislation.

In order to understand the situation, the High Commissioner jointly with the Moscow and Moscow Region Prosecutor’s Office conducted a proper check in February 2016.
In March 2016, the Federal Ombudsman appealed to the Presnensky District Court to challenge the decision of the City interdepartmental commission on the provision of housing for orphans (hereinafter — the Interdepartmental Commission), which had withheld K. the provision of housing in Moscow.

On May 23, 2016, the court settled the High Commissioner’s administrative claim and obliged the Interdepartmental Commission to reconsider the issue of providing K. with comfortable housing in Moscow.

Thus, with the participation of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, it became possible to solve the housing problem of the orphan.

In April 2017, the Commissioner received a letter of thanks from K., who had been provided with an apartment. "Me and my son now have our home. You cannot imagine what kind of happiness this is for us!"