The Deputy claims that preferential mortgages primarily enriched banks and developers.
According to Nina Ostanina, head of the State Duma Committee on Family Affairs, creating a family and having children should be determined by stable conditions such as housing, guaranteed employment, and a decent salary, rather than age. She urged against incentivizing early childbirth and instead called for providing student couples with housing.
Nina Ostanina emphasized that there is no specific age for marriage, motherhood, or fatherhood. She criticized politicians` proposals to offer guarantees only to women under 25, viewing this as age discrimination. According to her, the focus should be on general principles of respecting and encouraging parenthood, as well as incentives for family creation, regardless of age.
The head of the State Duma`s family committee noted that in modern Russia, family formation is often postponed. Ostanina believes that young people should not be blamed for wanting «to live for themselves.» She stated that meetings with students at various universities clearly showed that if young people had the necessary conditions – housing, a decent scholarship instead of just two thousand rubles, and no need to merely survive – most young families would be formed during their student years.
The deputy considers educational institutions to be the primary environment for youth interaction, and therefore, students should be provided with social housing to facilitate family creation. Nina Ostanina concluded that the state is obligated to ensure the key conditions for forming a young family: housing and a guaranteed job with adequate pay.
The head of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection also proposed establishing an independent center for monitoring Russia`s demographic situation. This initiative stems from the fact that since April of this year, Rosstat (Russia`s Federal State Statistics Service) has stopped publishing open data on birth and death rates in the country. Ostanina speculated that this might be related to these indicators being part of governors` key performance indicators (KPIs). She noted that a comparison of official Rosstat data for 2024, regional reports, and information from independent demographers reveals a discrepancy of almost a million in birth rates. Such a situation, in her opinion, necessitates the creation of an independent demographic center, as demographic data are critically important for shaping economic and migration strategies. Acting without accurate data means constructing flawed forecasts and making incorrect legislative decisions.
Earlier, a proposal was made in the State Duma to introduce a mandatory «demographic impact» assessment for every bill and state program. Ostanina cited the example of preferential family mortgages, questioning their effectiveness. She pointed out that this measure led to a 2.5-fold surge in housing prices: the cost per square meter in Moscow exceeded two million rubles, and in regions, one million. The majority of preferential mortgages were concentrated in three regions – Moscow, Moscow Oblast, and Saint Petersburg – with 70% of all mortgaged apartments being one-bedroom units. It reached an absurd point where one person obtained 21 apartments under the preferential mortgage program. Ostanina concluded that only banks and construction companies profited from such mortgages, and that the Ministry of Economic Development should have foreseen these consequences.
