Building affordable housing in the capital is unacceptable, Moscow Deputy Mayor for Urban Development and Construction Marat Khusnullin said on Friday at a Moscow real estate leaders' forum. As RIA Novosti reports, Khusnullin explained that if such housing were built, the cost price per square meter would be $2,000–3,000. That would mean many Muscovites would lose part of the value of their homes, and another 5 million people could move to the capital. "Today, housing prices are a factor limiting migration to Moscow. Affordable housing as a concept is not suitable for Moscow," Khusnullin concluded. http://www.gazeta.ru/realty/news/2013/10/04_n_3230377.shtml Absolutely astonishing. I was reading this and could hardly believe my eyes: maybe Gazeta.ru got it wrong? Misquoted him? Nope, here's another one: MOSCOW, October 4. /ITAR-TASS/. Building affordable housing in Moscow is strategically wrong. This view was expressed today by Deputy Mayor Marat Khusnullin at the 7th Moscow Real Estate Market Leaders Forum, "MREF 2013." "The idea of affordable housing for Moscow, unfortunately, does not work. Building affordable housing in the city must not be allowed strategically. And it is physically impossible, even if we wanted it," Khusnullin said. According to him, this is because cheap housing is not in Muscovites' own interests. "I don't think 12 million Muscovites are prepared to lose property value, their capitalization," Khusnullin said. Moreover, in the deputy mayor's view, if housing becomes affordable, several million more people could come to the city, and "Moscow's infrastructure cannot handle a larger population." Therefore, Khusnullin noted, expensive housing in the capital is also "a factor limiting migration to Moscow." In addition, developers are not prepared to see their earnings fall to a minimum. http://www.itar-tass.com/c15/901263.html I don't even know which comment fits these revelations better: The construction mafia has found a new excuse for stealing on every square meter of Moscow housing, while admitting that it should cost $2,000-3,000 rather than the current $6,500-8,000. or The largest metropolis in Europe is run by idiots.