Tag #123097 - Interview #101186 (Leizer Finchelstein)

To receive an apartment, you had to file a request at your industrial unit workplace. The industrial unit was then allotted by the Popular Council [Ed. note: the socialist equivalent of the city hall; local state authority in a given administrative-territorial unit] a certain number of apartments. A waiting list was drawn and, depending on each family’s situation, you were appointed one such apartment if a family with many members lived in a very small space or if you received special merits at your workplace. Based on this distribution, the one who received an apartment signed a leasing contract with the Popular Council, for these apartments were owned by the state. Starting with 1972, there was the possibility of also contracting such an apartment from COCRU [the County Office for Constructions and Residence Utilization]. You were communicated an estimate value of the apartment and, depending on that, you could secure a down payment or a loan from the BSC [Bank for Savings and Consignments] in order to pay the first payment or to secure a loan reimbursable in 25 years. That’s how you became the owner of an apartment. However, very many people rented these apartments, just as we did.