A Working Glossary of English-Russian Housing Terms

This glossary of English and Russian housing terms aims to give Russian reformers the terminology needed to understand housing policy in the USA, and to introduce American experts to the specificity of the Russian urban housing system, in particular highlighting the features which, being incompatible with a free market, make transition difficult for Russia. This glossary gives a broad picture of housing in the larger context of urban planning in the USA, describing the interaction of the government, the private sector, and the general public in the planning and decision-making process. It also brings together terms that embrace financial markets, such as mortgage markets and bond markets, and makes such concepts as reinvestment easy to understand. New Russian jargon is not represented in the glossary, instead existing American terms are transliterated into Russian. The glossary employs two terms, the USSR and Russia, in order to distinguish between the communist and post-communist periods, and to emphasize that only housing in the Russian Federation is being studied. All the entries are listed in English alphabetical order.