Kyiv residents have decided to fight against new housing tariffs. There is a strategy, but the prospects are vague
Kyiv residents have decided to start a fight against the doubling of housing tariffs, which were introduced in March in high-rise buildings without condominiums by the city authorities and municipal management companies.
A trial step in this direction was taken in Dniprovskyi district. On Labor Day, the Public Council at the local district state administration (DSA) organized a meeting of residents with experts who were ready to help resolve the tariff issue. Among them were two of the country's most high-profile public speakers on housing and communal services: MP Oleksiy Kucherenko and Oleh Popenko, head of the Union of Consumers of Utilities.
The strategy of confrontation with municipal housing offices, which the participants of the event chose, is generally based on the transition from quantity to quality. The success of the first houses to sue district managers may set a precedent that will be followed by subsequent plaintiffs. And the emergence of a citywide "wave of public movement" for fair tariffs may force the Kyiv authorities to reconsider service prices on their own.
Read more about the mechanisms of public influence on local authorities, whether it makes sense to fight for a "fair" tariff or whether it is easier to abandon utilities, in the article LIGA.net .