Voices of the Crisis
Real stories of orphans navigating the structural challenges of the Kazakhstan housing system.
Lyudmila Amborosova
Lyudmila has been waiting for an apartment for over ten years as of 2020, the government has told her to "go work" when she made inquiries about housing.
"everyone waits for more than ten years," the governmnent tell her. "But I have children," "everyone does," tje government responds
Karina Beksaparova
Dozens of graduates from a private children's home in the Almaty region have reported that their allowances have gone missing. The young people say they left the facility empty-handed.
"After leaving the orphanage, we head into the unknown. We have no parents—no one at all. That is why things don't work out for so many of us from the orphanage."
Yuri Zhitnikov
After the housing waiting list was transferred to a new electronic system, records of his 15-year wait for state housing disappeared.
"We were on the waiting list together. When my sister was called to receive her apartment, it turned out that I simply wasn't on the list anywhere," Yuri recounted.
Viktoria Sheshneva
At the Housing Support Center of Otbasy Bank JSC, it was explained to Viktoriya Shesheneva that the queue for the "orphans" category is currently processing applicants from 2010. Her turn has not yet arrived.
They emphasized that housing is allocated based on the year of registration on the waiting list.
"My little sister’s friend’s boyfriend was allocated an apartment yesterday—even though he got on the waiting list after us. I just don’t understand how they hand out these apartments. Who should I turn to?"
Anna Aksyonova
Anna Aksyonova’s story illustrates how one can lose an apartment without a court proceeding. In 2014, she was allocated a two-room apartment. Later, she was "relocated" to a one-room unit in the same building, only to end up with nothing at all. Anna has been trying to get answers for ten years.