Belarus - Housing

The lack of adequate, affordable housing continues to be a problem for Belarus, but certain advances have been made. After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, the government was forced to seal off 485 human settlement areas, displacing about 135,000 people. About 65,000 apartments and homes have since been built to house these people, but funds are still needed to rebuild the region. In 1990, Belarus had 17.9 square meters of housing space per capita and, as of 1 January 1991, 635,000 households (or 28.8%) were on waiting lists for housing in urban areas. Since 1992, the government has been reforming housing laws to secure the constitutional right of citizens to acquire, build, reconstruct, or lease housing facilities.