On May 15, our Foundation took part in “Housing for Internally Displaced Persons,” a three-day parliamentary-municipal dialog forum organized by the Temporary Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Protection of the Rights of IDPs and Other Persons with the support of the USAID’s Rada Next Generation program. Here are the main points made by Valeriya Vershynina, Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Foundation, at the forum.
“My hometown of Donetsk was occupied in 2014. That year, one and a half million people lost their homes, and the independent state of Ukraine faced massive internal displacement for the first time. In the first year of the war, it was not customary to look for consistent housing solutions. This happened because everyone believed that it was a temporary phenomenon and that we would soon return home. 10 years after the war began, Ukraine has more than four and a half million IDPs, is in the hot phase of the war, and hardly has any resources left.
We are forced to talk about long-term housing solutions when our cities are shelled and devastated on a daily basis, when communities are losing their human and economic potential, when people need housing for yesterday.
Today, I want to focus your attention on just one of the many important aspects of this process. The main goal of providing access to housing for internally displaced people in Ukraine is the municipal development of a consistent housing policy for IDPs. With the support of the UN Refugee Agency in Ukraine, our Foundation is researching housing policies and solutions in 18 oblasts. Now, I will talk about 4 challenges that municipalities face.”
Challenge 1: Lack of Data on Housing Needs of IDPs
Developing a housing policy requires information on the housing needs of IDPs in the community. We often hear about the importance of needs assessments. However, when it comes to a comprehensive housing needs assessment, it is usually absent. In most cases, a basic survey is conducted instead, where the need is determined on a declarative basis, which significantly distorts the data. In addition, even in cases where communities conduct such assessments, their data cannot be compared with each other, as there is no legal act that requires them to follow a common methodology. Therefore, it is necessary to adopt a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the methodology for assessing the housing needs of IDPs, make such an assessment mandatory, and establish its procedure.
Challenge 2: Lack of Housing Stock or Lack of Housing for IDPs
The main task is to create preconditions for increasing the availability of such housing. Often, communities do not have accurate data on vacant housing, so the first step is to conduct an inventory of properties that can be used to provide IDPs with housing and vacant land plots that can be used for construction. It is important to convey to municipalities that the adoption of documents that define the algorithm for finding and distributing housing will help them to generate housing stock. It is equally important to analyze the results of the housing inventory for previous years and determine what prevented their effective implementation.
Challenge 3: Developing an Accessible Local Housing Policy
The local housing policy should be accessible to IDPs and provide for discussion and adoption of relevant documents that reflect a strategic vision of the situation and describe an arsenal of tactical tools for solving housing problems. I am referring to long-term plans to support internally displaced people under martial law and after its termination, as well as local targeted programs for IDPs. Today, most communities do not have such documents.
Challenge 4: Insufficient Awareness Among IDPs of Existing Housing Programs
The websites of most of the communities studied do not contain generalized and accessible information on housing solutions and programs. Even the best housing solutions cannot be implemented without accurate information with a specific algorithm of actions for IDPs. In a situation like this, it is important to step up communication between municipalities and IDPs, as well as to ensure that relevant information is accessible and inclusive.
Conclusion
The local housing policy should be clear, accessible, and based on the housing needs of IDPs and a transparent mechanism for housing distribution, regulated by local strategic and tactical regulations. It should provide a means of active information sharing with IDPs and their involvement in the discussion. It is through a broad dialog between municipalities, IDPs and their associations, government agencies, experts, and businesses that an effective and inclusive housing policy for IDPs can be developed.
Reports on the results of the study of housing programs conducted by our Foundation: link.
USAID’s Rada Next Generation program
USAID’s Rada Next Generation program promotes active engagement of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine with its voters and helps to conduct parliamentary and municipal forums in different regions of Ukraine to engage stakeholders in the legislative process, study voters’ needs, and jointly develop solutions. The forum is held with the participation of MPs, government representatives, local authorities, territorial communities, NGOs, and international partners. CF SSS participated in the forum as part of the Supporting the Capacity of the Social Protection System to Register Internally Displaced Persons project, implemented by our Foundation with funding from the United Nations Refugee Agency in Ukraine (UNHCR).