Ukraine might introduce social house renting for displaced people

Ukraine is considering the possibility of introducing a new type of social housing rental, which could be one way to solve the problem of internally displaced citizens and people who need state support in this matter.

RBC-Ukraine cites Olena Shulyak, the head of the Ukrainian parliament's committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning.

The official said that social rent is provided for in the draft law on the basic principles of housing policy, presented to the public.

The essence of social rent is communities rent out housing and payments for this are directed to local budgets for further use for improvement of the existing housing stock, or construction of new housing with a similar purpose.

Shulyak emphasizes that the mechanisms of social rent are quite popular in the EU countries. However, as the head of the specialized committee noted, Ukraine needs to adapt them to Ukraine's realities and develop a legal basis.

"In the EU, the contract for renting social housing is concluded between the local self-government body and the lessee. The local government, which provides housing for rent, conducts annual monitoring of the lessee's income for the previous year.

If his average monthly total income has increased for the previous two consecutive years, this is a reason to terminate the contract," Shulyak explains, using the separate example of renting an apartment in the European Union.

Ukraine will seek financing for this project, particularly using seized assets of the Russian Federation abroad. The main sources of funding can also be:

• property seized from Russian and Belarusian citizens,
• funds of international technical assistance and development agencies.

Foreign examples:

• In the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark, social housing accounts for more than 20% of the total housing stock,
• In Great Britain, France, Iceland, Ireland, and Finland, it varies between 10 and 19%,
• In Hungary and, for example, Finland, the social rental sector accounts for more than 50% of all rental housing.

On the other hand, in Ukraine, its share barely reaches 1.5%, which is critically small, considering all the challenges caused by a full-scale invasion.

Taking this into account, the parliamentarian considers social rent extremely promising for Ukraine, where now, firstly, there is a huge number of internally displaced citizens, and secondly, the housing issue has not been resolved for decades.

"Of course, one must understand that the European practice of social rent results from long-term and consistent policies that have been implemented for years.

In its turn, Ukraine followed housing policies that amounted to the direct transfer of apartments to new owners for years. Most state and municipal programs have focused on subsidizing ownership rather than affordable rent. We have a lot of work ahead of us," Shulyak noted.

It is noted that the first pilot projects of social rent are already being tested in Ukraine, which can be an important step in solving the country's housing problem.

We would like to remind you that in Denmark, the "Ukrainian Housing for All" fund was created to focus on developing a housing concept and creating affordable rental housing in Ukraine according to the Danish model.

In addition, on March 29, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolved the issue of preventing the eviction of vulnerable categories of internally displaced citizens from housing for temporary residence during martial law and for six months after its termination or cancellation.