5 ms·

My original point was just that; public housing is not something you just do with a one-time investment, and it requires a serious long-term commitment to keep

My original point was just that; public housing is not something you just do with a one-time investment, and it requires a serious long-term commitment to keep it viable. I agree that many of the previous projects failed to commit to keeping those buildings in shape and I also doubt that any modern democracy would ever commit to such endeavours in the future; nobody wants to make very expensive, very long-term promises like that.

emteycz 6y ago
You said that "very little was built or maintained after 1989". The exact opposite is true - before 1989 there was a moderate amount of newly constructed incredibly dangerous and toxic buildings violating every urbanistic rule and past plans that were a major downgrade from pre-war comfort (keep in mind that these buildings were built in 1970's, 30 years after the war); and there was absolutely zero maintenance, any repairs that got done were carried out secretly by the inhabitants with stolen material because you couldn't even buy it, and if you could you wouldn't because you'd be accused of the terrible crime of conducting business. After 1989 the economy was in a bad shape - understandable after 40 years of destruction, but once it stabilized (within a decade, a truly incredible achievement of free markets!) there has been a huge explosion of real estate development, and it's still not finished - I can see from my window right now 5 buildings being repaired and 3 buildings being constructed. But there isn't any propaganda about it, so people further away from my street have no idea, whereas the communists ordinarily used faked/false photos to show off their incredible achievement.
- fogihujy 6y ago
  No, that was the guy responding to my post. :)
  - emteycz 6y ago
    I'm sorry then! Didn't check that.
- lucian1900 6y ago
  The Romanian economy was in a bad shape in the 80s mostly because we were forced to pay back IMF loans early, while under trade sanctions. The loans were taken to build up production in order to export goods, but we weren’t allowed to export much beyond food. It’s a common tactic used against socialist countries. The economy recovered eventually because the strangling eased, after one last massive robbery through the devaluation of our currency. Eventually the building of housing resumed as well, but so much of it is of extremely poor quality. Many friends that bought new builds complained they are of poorer quality than the flats they grew up in. Only in the past few years has it become possible to reliably find good quality new builds, but few can afford them. And even now, the vast majority of housing stock is still from before 89.

emteycz 6y ago

You said that "very little was built or maintained after 1989". The exact opposite is true - before 1989 there was a moderate amount of newly constructed incredibly dangerous and toxic buildings violating every urbanistic rule and past plans that were a major downgrade from pre-war comfort (keep in mind that these buildings were built in 1970's, 30 years after the war); and there was absolutely zero maintenance, any repairs that got done were carried out secretly by the inhabitants with stolen material because you couldn't even buy it, and if you could you wouldn't because you'd be accused of the terrible crime of conducting business. After 1989 the economy was in a bad shape - understandable after 40 years of destruction, but once it stabilized (within a decade, a truly incredible achievement of free markets!) there has been a huge explosion of real estate development, and it's still not finished - I can see from my window right now 5 buildings being repaired and 3 buildings being constructed. But there isn't any propaganda about it, so people further away from my street have no idea, whereas the communists ordinarily used faked/false photos to show off their incredible achievement.

fogihujy 6y ago
No, that was the guy responding to my post. :)
- emteycz 6y ago
  I'm sorry then! Didn't check that.
lucian1900 6y ago
The Romanian economy was in a bad shape in the 80s mostly because we were forced to pay back IMF loans early, while under trade sanctions. The loans were taken to build up production in order to export goods, but we weren’t allowed to export much beyond food. It’s a common tactic used against socialist countries. The economy recovered eventually because the strangling eased, after one last massive robbery through the devaluation of our currency. Eventually the building of housing resumed as well, but so much of it is of extremely poor quality. Many friends that bought new builds complained they are of poorer quality than the flats they grew up in. Only in the past few years has it become possible to reliably find good quality new builds, but few can afford them. And even now, the vast majority of housing stock is still from before 89.