Housing queues in Ukraine will be digitized: how it will help those in need of housing
8 July 12:33
There is only one answer to the question “how many people are on the housing register – in the so-called housing waiting lists” or “how many people need housing” – “a lot of people.” There is simply no more precise answer to this question. The digital information and analytical housing platform, which is currently being launched in the Ukrainian parliament, should provide it.
What other tasks this information system will solve and how it will help Ukrainians solve their own housing problems, "Komersant Ukrainian" asked Olena Shulyak, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning.
Ms. Shulyak, what is this “magic” tool that can help solve housing problems?
The Unified Housing Information and Analytical System is a digital solution that will help citizens choose the best housing solution for their case. The system will be used by those people who want to improve their living conditions or exercise their right to housing.
First, the digital platform will help to transfer all those queues where people were put on a piece of paper into a single transparent and unified format. As a result, there will be a complete understanding of who is applying for housing, why, on which lists, in what order, etc.
Secondly, the platform will help to select the most optimal housing solution for each individual. By analyzing all the data on housing and housing programs in the country, a person will be offered a solution tailored to his or her needs and capabilities. This can be a preferential mortgage, leasing, renting in social housing, or a special employer housing program, etc.
Thirdly, the digital platform will ensure that a person does not have to go to an official who will decide whether to give you housing or not, at what time, and so on.
Our task, and not only in housing policy, is to remove officials from decision-making as much as possible where these decisions can be automatic. An example is the Unified State Electronic System for Construction, launched in 2019. At the time of its launch, not everyone understood what it was and why it was needed. Now, construction market participants have a positive digital solution that has eliminated millions of visits to officials and hundreds of hours in queues.
– How will this Unified Digital Housing Information and Analytical Platform function?
The platform will combine information on the entire state housing stock, the housing stock of territorial communities, housing recognized as ownerless, and private housing stock.
It will also contain information on all persons who can benefit from state support, all data on existing state and local housing programs, data on affordable housing operators, data on housing cooperatives and their members.
The system will analyze all the data of the applicant, including the level of income, ownership of housing, social status (IDP, person with a disability, disabled person), and will be able to offer the most appropriate housing option: social housing, service housing, housing programs, or the use of financial and credit mechanisms.
Local governments will be able to use the platform to understand the situation on their territories, manage local housing funds, and plan development. This approach will make it possible to competently plan the development of not only the housing stock, but also the development of infrastructure in each community.
The digital housing system should help provide people with housing, taking into account current needs and any dynamic changes, especially during the war, when people are forced to change their place of residence.
– How soon do you plan to launch such a “digital mechanism” for resolving housing issues?
The launch of the digital platform is envisaged by the draft law No. 12377 – “On the Basic Principles of Housing Policy”. It is the adoption of this law that will launch the housing reform.
I would like to add that it is to be considered in the first reading at the next meeting of the Verkhovna Rada. It is also important that this draft law should be finally adopted by the 4th quarter of 2025, as it is a requirement of the Ukraine Facility program, under which the EU provides Ukraine with €50 billion by the end of 2027. That is, its adoption is a matter of time. And a very specific one.
The unified state housing information and analytical system is one of the tools that will help to implement high-quality housing reform in Ukraine.
It is worth emphasizing that the reform is also necessary because we are still living under the Housing Code, adopted in 1983, which does not solve the housing problem of citizens who have been in need of better living conditions for decades.
Currently, the state does not even know how many people are on the housing register – the so-called housing waiting lists. The latest data here dates back to 2015 and concerns at least 600,000 people who were in need of better housing conditions and were registered at that time.
– What other bills need to be adopted and in what timeframe?
In general, we need 3 key draft laws. First, the framework law No. 12377 “On the Basic Principles of Housing Policy”. As I have already mentioned, the deadline for its adoption is the 4th quarter of this year.
Next, we need a draft law “On the Social Housing Fund”, since it is from this fund that the state will be able to provide housing for temporary use on a social lease basis. Let me emphasize: temporary! Because such housing cannot be privatized. This draft law has already begun to be created without waiting for the adoption of the framework law, because the need for it is enormous. The deadline for it is the 4th quarter of 2026.
There is a third mandatory draft law on the management of the social housing fund. We will continue to work on it.
– In the context of solving the “housing issue” in Ukraine, we cannot but mention the large-scale inventory of the housing stock that has been launched. What are the stages and timing of its implementation?
The preparatory stage of the inventory has already begun. We are talking about the implementation of Law No. 4080. It provides for an inventory of all housing that can be used for internally displaced persons in the government-controlled territory.
The problem is that so far neither the government nor the regions and territorial communities have real data on the number and condition of housing, including the housing they own. The lack of housing records complicates the planning and implementation of housing programs, and in the case of state and communal property, it leads to its illegal use or alienation.
Due to the privatization of the 1990s, we have almost no state and municipal housing stock. Communities still do not understand what they have on their balance sheets, what is municipal and communal property. Consequently, there is no understanding of what can be rebuilt or completed. And we have hundreds of unfinished buildings by developers. So this inventory will help us identify them and understand what can be completed, as such facilities are cheaper than those built from scratch. Of course, we will also build them: special affordable housing operators will be created for this purpose. But everything that can be inventoried now needs to be identified.
I also believe that the inventory that is currently being carried out for the needs of IDPs will be the first step for an all-Ukrainian inventory, which will allow not only IDPs to get housing, but also everyone who needs to solve the housing issue.
– What other bottlenecks are holding back the housing reform?
The most important point is to change the rules of the game in the rental market, because without this we will not be able to provide social rental mechanisms. We need to bring this market out of the shadows. This is actually one of the long-standing unresolved problems in the housing sector.
During our recent public consultations on housing policy, participants once again noted that renting is risky for both tenants and landlords. This includes unregulated prices, discriminatory and even strange requirements for tenants that landlords do not hesitate to mention in advertisements, the risk of being victimized by fraudsters, sudden rent increases, or even evictions.
To ensure that the rights of all participants in the process are protected, their relations should be regulated by formal contracts, and fair taxes should be paid on rental income, which can be used to develop preferential programs and social housing.
Author: Serhiy Vasylovych
