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90-Year-Old Trapped in Crumbling Yakutsk Home After Decades of Broken Promises

For 50 years, Kapitolina Melnikova has waited for safe housing. Now, at 90, she's still trapped in a collapsing building—while officials keep pushing deadlines further away.

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3 min read
The image shows an old book with a picture of a city on it, which is a Soviet propaganda poster...
The image shows an old book with a picture of a city on it, which is a Soviet propaganda poster from 1930. The poster features text and images, likely related to the Soviet Union.

90-Year-Old Trapped in Crumbling Yakutsk Home After Decades of Broken Promises

Enough Is Enough

YAKUTIA.INFOYakutia.Info continues to cover one of Yakutia's—and Yakutsk's in particular—most pressing issues: the crisis of dilapidated and emergency housing. Our editorial team received a complaint from Kapitolina Melnikova, a distinguished labor veteran, a child of war, and a third-group disabled pensioner, who shared her story—a tragic example of how ordinary people suffer due to government inefficiency.

Kapitolina Nikolayevna was born in Yakutsk in 1936 (she will celebrate her 90th birthday on July 1). Her husband passed away in 1989, her daughter died in a fire in 2007, and her son succumbed to cancer in 2023. Melnikova is now the guardian of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She lives in a wooden house at 144 Lermontov Street. Officially, the building is listed as renovated in 1972, but according to Melnikova, it actually dates back to the 1950s–1960s. It once had stove heating, though central heating and plumbing were later installed. Residents have had to install their own bathroom fixtures, including tubs and shower cabins.

Today, the building is in dire condition. The roof and ceiling have caved in, the floors are rotted and covered in mold, the plaster is crumbling, the windows are cracked, and the sewage system is worn out. The outdated wiring poses a fire hazard. The ceiling in her apartment is literally collapsing, and the kitchen is cramped and impractical. The building itself has tilted noticeably to the north, and the staircase in the entrance is propped up with supports.

"I've been on the waiting list for better housing since 1974—back when we still had stove heating. My great-granddaughter can't live with me: she's only two years old, and there are no decent conditions here," says Kapitolina Nikolayevna.

In 2018, then-Mayor of Yakutsk Sardana Avksentyeva issued an order declaring the building at 144 Lermontov Street an emergency structure slated for demolition, with residents to be relocated by 2023. People rejoiced, expecting new homes. But eight years later, nothing has changed.

Authorities have offered temporary housing to residents, but few have accepted. Melnikova, for instance, was offered a studio apartment—but she refused.

"I don't need temporary housing. I may be old, but I still want to live out my days in a proper apartment of my own," she insists.

Watch the video on Yakutia.Info

As we previously reported, the republican program to relocate residents from buildings declared emergency before January 1, 2017, was supposed to be completed by fall 2025. Yet the deadlines have been missed: according to the latest data, 153,000 square meters of housing remain unrelocated.

In light of this, Yakutia's authorities have appealed to the federal government to extend the deadline for fulfilling the regional program and allocate additional funding. The proposed new deadline is September 1, 2028, instead of September 1, 2025. Since the building at 144 Lermontova Street was declared unsafe later—in 2018—its relocation timeline has been pushed back to the 2030s.

Editor's note: It is unlikely that federal authorities will provide the funds (just as they have not for airfare subsidies). In other words, the message remains: "No money, but hang in there." Nevertheless, Yakutia.Info requests that this publication be considered an official inquiry to the Yakutia District Administration and the Yakutia Prosecutor's Office. There are two key questions:

First, why are the promised deadlines for demolishing unsafe housing not being met?

Second, when can Kapitolina Nikolayevna expect to be relocated?

Watch the video by Yakutia.Info

"Children of War" refers to the generation of citizens born (typically between June 22, 1928, and September 3, 1945) who endured the hardships of the Great Patriotic War as minors. In Russia, this status is governed by regional legislation, granting benefits and payments (such as those issued before Victory Day on May 9).

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  3. Bastrykin responds to Yakutia.Info report on large family living in condemned building in Yakutsk
  4. Yakutia authorities fail to demolish dilapidated housing on time, seek more federal funding
  5. Residents of Shirokiye-Polyansky: "If we had been relocated, the tragedy would never have happened"

Tags: * demolition and resettlement of dilapidated and unsafe housing * Sardana Avksentyeva * Kapitolina Melnikova * 144 Lermontova Street

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