Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Esta publicación cientíca en formato digital es continuidad de la revista impresa
ISSN-Versión Impresa 0798-1406 / ISSN-Versión on line 2542-3185Depósito legal pp
197402ZU34
ppi 201502ZU4645
Vol.41 N° 76
Enero
Marzo
2023
Recibido el 15/11/22 Aceptado el 21/12/22
ISSN 0798- 1406 ~ De pó si to le gal pp 198502ZU132
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
La re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas, es una pu bli ca ción aus pi cia da por el Ins ti tu to
de Es tu dios Po lí ti cos y De re cho Pú bli co “Dr. Hum ber to J. La Ro che” (IEPDP) de la Fa-
cul tad de Cien cias Ju rí di cas y Po lí ti cas de la Uni ver si dad del Zu lia.
En tre sus ob je ti vos fi gu ran: con tri buir con el pro gre so cien tí fi co de las Cien cias
Hu ma nas y So cia les, a tra vés de la di vul ga ción de los re sul ta dos lo gra dos por sus in ves-
ti ga do res; es ti mu lar la in ves ti ga ción en es tas áreas del sa ber; y pro pi ciar la pre sen ta-
ción, dis cu sión y con fron ta ción de las ideas y avan ces cien tí fi cos con com pro mi so so cial.
Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas apa re ce dos ve ces al año y pu bli ca tra ba jos ori gi na les con
avan ces o re sul ta dos de in ves ti ga ción en las áreas de Cien cia Po lí ti ca y De re cho Pú bli-
co, los cua les son so me ti dos a la con si de ra ción de ár bi tros ca li fi ca dos.
ESTA PU BLI CA CIÓN APA RE CE RE SE ÑA DA, EN TRE OTROS ÍN DI CES, EN
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gra fía So cio Eco nó mi ca de Ve ne zue la de RE DIN SE, In ter na tio nal Bi blio graphy of
Po li ti cal Scien ce, Re vencyt, His pa nic Ame ri can Pe rio di cals In dex/HAPI), Ul ri ch’s
Pe rio di cals Di rec tory, EBS CO. Se en cuen tra acre di ta da al Re gis tro de Pu bli ca cio-
nes Cien tí fi cas y Tec no ló gi cas Ve ne zo la nas del FO NA CIT, La tin dex.
Di rec to ra
L
OIRALITH
M. C
HIRINOS
P
ORTILLO
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Ri car do Com bel las
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Al fre do Ra mos Ji mé nez
Go ran Ther born
Frie drich Welsch
Asis ten tes Ad mi nis tra ti vos
Joan López Urdaneta y Nil da Ma rín
Re vis ta Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas. Av. Gua ji ra. Uni ver si dad del Zu lia. Nú cleo Hu ma nís ti co. Fa-
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Vol. 41, Nº 76 (2023), 46-63
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
State housing policy of Ukraine: status
and development perspectives
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4176.02
Olga Avramova *
Valentyna Sloma **
Olha Kulinich ***
Tetyana Fedorenko ****
Svetlana Myrza *****
Abstract
The purpose of the article was to determine the state housing
policy taking into account the state of war in Ukraine as a result
of the conict with the Russian Federation. The authors of the
article have used general scientic (dialectical, axiological,
etc.) and special (formal and logical, statistical, predictive, etc.)
methods and scientic cognition. The lack of a state housing
policy and a general strategy for the development of the housing
stock has been established. The importance of the modern stage of the state
housing policy of Ukraine, which is to restore the housing stock destroyed
or damaged as a result of the war, ensuring the housing needs of internally
displaced persons and people who have lost their homes, is emphasized. It
has been concluded that the modern state housing policy of Ukraine needs
to dene its strategic directions taking into account the needs that arose as
a result of the war. The authors have suggested the following areas of the
latest state housing policy: construction of new housing stock, major repairs
of housing-related infrastructure facilities, determination of mechanisms
for accounting of rental housing stock and resumption of social housing
construction, etc.
* PhD in Law, Associate professor, assistant professor of Civil Law and Procedure Department Kharkiv
National University of Internal Aairs, Kharkiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-
1941-9894
** Doctor in Law, Associate professor, associate professor of Civil Law and Procedure Department, West
Ukrainian National University, Ternopil, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9582-
1236
*** Doctor in Law, Associate professor, professor of IP and information law Department, Educational and
Scientic Institute of Law, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1337-8494
**** PhD in Law, Associate professor, assistant professor of the Department of Branch Law and General
Legal Disciplines, Institute of Law and Social Relations, Open International University of Human
Development “Ukraine”, Kyiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3447-9078
***** PhD in Law, Associate professor, associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law Disciplines,
Odessa State University of Internal Aairs, Odessa, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0002-4155-7513
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 76 (2023): 46-63
Keywords: social housing; housing stock; housing policy; right to
housing; collective needs.
Política estatal de vivienda de Ucrania: estado y
perspectivas de desarrollo
Resumen
El propósito del artículo fue determinar la política estatal de vivienda
teniendo en cuenta el estado de guerra en Ucrania como resultado del
conicto con la Federación Rusa. Los autores del artículo han utilizado
métodos cientícos generales, especiales y de cognición cientíca. Se ha
establecido la falta de una política estatal de vivienda y de una estrategia
general para el desarrollo del parque de viviendas. Se enfatiza la importancia
de la etapa moderna de la política estatal de vivienda de Ucrania, que
consiste en restaurar el parque de viviendas destruidas o dañadas como
resultado de la guerra, asegurando las necesidades de vivienda de las
personas desplazadas internamente y las personas que han perdido sus
hogares. Se ha llegado a la conclusión de que la política de vivienda estatal
moderna de Ucrania necesita denir sus direcciones estratégicas teniendo
en cuenta las necesidades que surgieron como resultado de la guerra.
Los autores han sugerido las siguientes áreas de la última política estatal
de vivienda: construcción de nuevo parque de viviendas, reparaciones
mayores de instalaciones de infraestructura relacionadas con la vivienda,
determinación de mecanismos para la contabilización del parque de
viviendas de alquiler y reanudación de la construcción de viviendas sociales,
etc.
Palabras clave: vivienda de interés social; parque de viviendas;
política de vivienda; derecho a la vivienda; necesidades
colectivas.
Introduction
The CEDOS analytical center conducted a comprehensive study of
housing policy in Ukraine in 2019. One of its recommendations was a
proposal to develop a holistic state housing policy that would replace
individual sectoral housing programs (Fedoriv, 2019). Objectively, one of
the problematic areas of the state policy of Ukraine is the state housing
policy. Currently, it is possible to state the lack of a systematic approach
to the development of state housing policy, consideration of international
48
Olga Avramova, Valentyna Sloma, Olha Kulinich, Tetyana Fedorenko y Svetlana Myrza
State housing policy of Ukraine: status and development perspectives
standards regarding the provision of housing needs and reforming
Ukrainian housing legislation.
The analytical report of the National Institute of Strategic Studies focused
on the state housing policy of 2012 indicated that approximately every fth
Ukrainian family (which in absolute terms is about 3,400 thousands of
families) according to sociological surveys conducted in Ukraine in recent
years is not satised with their housing conditions (Bilovsky, 2012), It is
conrmed by the lack of state standards of adequate housing, which are
dened by international and legal documents.
It was suggested to adopt the draft Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles
of State Housing Policy” as a basis in 2013. It was assumed that its adoption
would settle the gaps that existed because of the lack of a single systematic
approach to solving housing problems. It was supposed to become the
legislative act that would comprehensively dene the basic principles of the
development and implementation of modern state housing policy (Notice of
the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 2013). However, despite
the need to adopt a single regulatory legal act to determine the main areas
of state housing policy, that draft law has not been adopted yet.
The latest Concept of the state housing policy was approved by the
Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dated from June 30, 1995
No. 254/95-VR (The concept of state housing policy, 1995). The methods of
ensuring housing needs, the socio-economic conditions of society’s life have
been qualitatively changed since its approval, and the Ukrainian legislation
has been amended. Therefore, this Concept has lost its relevance. At the
same time, proposals regarding the establishment of standards and areas of
the state housing policy of Ukraine have never been developed or approved
at the level of state administration authorities.
The problems related to the state housing policy have been just intensied
as a result of the martial law in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. The total
amount of direct losses to the country’s economy from the damage and
destruction of residential and non-residential buildings and infrastructure
as of June 8, 2022 is $ 103.9 billion or 3 trillion hryvnias. In total, at least
44.8 million square meters of housing stock, 256 enterprises, 6.3 thousand
railway tracks, 656 medical institutions, 1177 educational institutions, 668
kindergartens, 198 warehouses, 20 shopping centers, 28 oil depots have
been damaged, destroyed or captured since the beginning of Russia’s war
against Ukraine (KSE, 2022). The above emphasizes the relevance and
timeliness of the research in the eld of the state housing policy of Ukraine,
its status and perspectives for the development under martial law.
The purpose of the article is to determine the state housing policy of
Ukraine, its status and perspectives for the development taking into account
the needs that arose as a result of the introduction of the martial law and
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CUESTIONES POLÍTICAS
Vol. 41 Nº 76 (2023): 46-63
the damage and destruction of the housing facilities stock. To reveal the
purpose is possible by solving the following tasks: to provide general
characteristics of the state housing policy of Ukraine, to analyze the genesis
of its reform, to identify and reveal the content of the state regional housing
policy, in particular during the martial law, to determine the areas for the
development of the state housing policy of Ukraine.
1. Methodology of the study
The article is based on statistical materials that characterize the current
status of: ensuring housing needs of Ukrainians, forming the associations
of multi-apartment buildings, providing internally displaced persons with
housing, housing facilities stock of Ukraine under the martial law. When
analyzing the situation of housing needs, identifying the consequences of
damages, destruction of housing as a result of military operations we used
open sources from various mass media. The solution of the set tasks was
made possible due to the processing of materials published in the legal
literature by national and foreign researchers. The research principles were
regulatory legal acts of Ukraine, national and regional housing programs.
The solution of the set tasks is possible by using the system of general
scientic and special methods of scientic cognition by the authors of the
article. Thus, the application of the dialectical method made it possible
to reveal the basic principles of the state housing policy. The methods of
analysis and synthesis contributed to reveal the current situation of the state
housing policy of Ukraine, to identify its gaps and to formulate suggestions
to overcome them.
The axiological method assisted to reveal the importance of housing for
human development, in particular in terms of the martial law. The formal
and logical method made it possible to identify the system for creating the
areas of improving the state housing policy. The statistical method assisted
in revealing the reality of housing provision and the housing needs of the
population. The forecasting method was used to determine the areas of the
state housing policy.
2. Analysis of recent research
The state housing policy has being studied by researchers of various
scientic elds: law, public administration, economics, and sociology.
Particular attention among the modern scientic works on the specied
issues should be paid to the article by Barvinenko (2014) “Model of forming
the state housing policy”, where the author analyzed the national and
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Olga Avramova, Valentyna Sloma, Olha Kulinich, Tetyana Fedorenko y Svetlana Myrza
State housing policy of Ukraine: status and development perspectives
regional housing policy. The scientic achievements of the scholar were
used by the authors of this research while characterizing the state housing
policy under the martial law.
Tiulenieva (2020) in her scientic article came to the conclusion that:
The status of the housing facilities stock and the level of housing provision of
the population in Ukraine are at a low stage and require revision of the existing
mechanisms for providing the population with housing and the mechanism for
implementing the housing policy in the whole (2020: 32).
This conclusion is an eloquent conrmation of the relevance of the issue
and the need to conduct separate research of the state housing policy in
Ukraine.
Issues of the state housing policy on the African continent were
considered in the article made by Gbadegesin and Marais (2020: 15): “The
state of housing policy research in Africa”. Specic features of the state
housing policy regarding the development of the housing facilities stock on
the example of the USA are revealed in the article by Fink et al., (2021)
“Policy Diusion in a Redistributive Policy: Aordable Housing and State
Housing Trust Funds”.
There are studies focused on determining the state housing policy taking
into account the martial law in Ukraine as a result of the war with the
Russian Federation. Thus, Teremetskyi et al (2021). based on the analysis
of the dynamics of emergencies in residential buildings or constructions in
Ukraine for the period of 2015-2020, the authors have made a conclusion
on the need to implement measures on preventing emergencies.
The analysis of scientic studies of the state housing policy emphasizes
the interest of scholars from dierent countries in this topic. This provision
is due to the fact that housing for a person is a mean of ensuring his / her
livelihood. Therefore, the development of the housing policy has a direct
relationship with human rights, the socio-economic situation of the state
and its political regime. That is, the state housing policy is a complex
scientic category.
Thus, it is quite logical to study it on the examples of dierent countries
taking into account the dierences in the political regime and the socio-
economic situation of countries. Ukraine, which is actually at war with
the Russian Federation, is no exception and is trying to develop the state
housing policy with elements of the need to restore the destroyed housing
facilities stock.
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3. Results and discussion
3.1. National housing policy of Ukraine
State housing policy is the system of unied measures of legislative
and controlling nature, carried out by legal state institutions (Bukiashvili,
2009). It is part of the unied socio-economic policy of the state. Housing
policy is designed to guarantee a person sucient living conditions, it
provides quality and comfortable living within a decent living environment
(Komnatnyi, 2021).
Despite the importance of this policy for exercising the right to housing,
Ukraine does not have a single state housing policy program approved by
public authorities. At the same time, some national programs for aordable
housing, youth target-oriented lending, individual housing construction in
the countryside are being developed and implemented at the level of the
Ukrainian government. These programs do not solve the general problem
in the housing sector, but provide an opportunity to meet the housing need
with the help of state mechanisms of partial nancing of certain population
groups.
The lack of the concept of housing policy is not an obstacle for the
development of its certain areas in scientic papers. Thus, scholars prove that
the main principles of domestic economic policy are the reform of housing
and municipal services, ensuring the availability of municipal services
and improving their quality, involving residents into the management of
housing and municipal facilities (Omelchuk, 2017).
It should be noted that these areas will be implemented over time. For
example, the Law of Ukraine “On Specic Features of Exercising Ownership
Rights in Apartment Buildings” was adopted in 2015 (Law of Ukraine
No. 417-VIII, 2015). Partial reform of the management of the housing
facilities stock took place on its basis, in particular, the management of
apartment buildings was transferred to the association of co-owners of
apartment buildings. It was a new approach to reforming housing facilities
stock’s management.
However, such changes were somewhat late, since the beginning of the
denationalization of the Soviet housing facilities stock took place in 1992 on
the basis of the Law of Ukraine “On the Privatization of the State Housing
Facilities Stock” (Law of Ukraine No. 2482-XII, 1992), which was aimed at
the privatization of the state housing facilities stock in creating conditions
for exercising the civil right to free choice of satisfying housing needs,
involving citizens to participate in the maintenance and preservation of
existing housing and the formation of market relations. Despite the eorts
to involve citizens in housing facilities stock’s management, the state
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Olga Avramova, Valentyna Sloma, Olha Kulinich, Tetyana Fedorenko y Svetlana Myrza
State housing policy of Ukraine: status and development perspectives
housing policy on housing management from 1992 to 2015 has been never
implemented.
Unresolved problems have been accumulated over time in the eld
of housing facilities stock’s management, including the lack of repairs to
apartment buildings, energy saving systems, the separation of common
and individual property in an apartment building, etc. Deterioration of
the technical condition of the housing facilities stock was also caused by
an imperfect organizational mechanism for maintaining housing in proper
conditions, almost 40% of housing in Ukraine is not equipped with cold and
hot water supply systems, heating, sewage, gas, etc. (Suhonos, 2014).
The accumulation of problems in the eld of housing facilities stock’s
management led to the need to introduce the modern mechanism for
managing apartment buildings in the form of creating associations of
co-owners of apartment buildings. Such associations have been actively
created since 2016 by residents of apartment buildings. The Ministry
of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine together
with experts from the Reform Support Oce conducted a quantitative
assessment of the functioning of associations of co-owners of apartment
buildings in Ukraine.
Specialists of the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction
and Housing and Municipal Services of Ukraine emphasize that eective
management of common property is a prerequisite for the formation
and successful implementation of the state housing policy, as well as
the implementation of energy-ecient measures. There were 32,982
associations of co-owners of apartment buildings in Ukraine as of January
20, 2020 (Research of the minregion of Ukraine, 2020). However, the
activities of these associations have signicantly slowed down as a result of
the hostilities that have been taking place on the territory of Ukraine since
February 24, 2022, and the creation of new ones has been suspended.
Besides, problems in the activities of associations of co-owners of
apartment buildings in terms of the martial law are related to the elimination
of consequences of the destructed housing. Since most of the destroyed
or damaged apartment buildings were not insured, their restoration is
possible only due to the assistance from the country. At least one million
houses have been damaged as of August 2022. Their restoration requires
4.8 trillion hryvnias or 165 billion dollars (Public media portal Bakhmut,
2022).
Gaps in the system of the state national housing policy began to appear in
terms of the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
The absence of a sustainable policy regarding the development of social
housing facilities stock was manifested. In particular, it is about meeting
the housing needs of internally displaced persons. Since the acquisition of
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the right to social housing by them is an indispensable component for the
protection of housing rights (Teremetskyi et al, 2021).
The issue of providing housing for this category of persons arose in
2014 after the occupation of part of the Ukrainian territory by the Russian
Federation. Thus, during the six months of the Russian Federation’s full-
scale invasion into Ukraine, the number of internally displaced persons
increased signicantly and was 6.9 million people as of August 23, 2022
(Interfax-Ukraine, 2022). However, due to the creation and implementation
of a number of state programs from 2014 till the beginning of 2022, which
were aimed at solving the housing issue of internally displaced persons, it
was possible to provide housing for only 1,424 families (Komnatnyi, 2022).
We believe that the problem of realizing the housing rights by this
category of persons is due to the fact that there has been no increase in the
construction of social housing since 2014. There is also no regulatory basis
for recognizing the inclusion of private housing into the social housing
facilities stock.
Other factors that limited the availability of housing for IDPs during the
martial law were the following: lack of registers of free housing that can be
provided to citizens, as well as a register of housing available for purchase
in order to accommodate the evacuated population there; increase in
rental housing prices due to the lack of a state policy on regulating housing
rental price during the war; a small amount of adequate housing for forced
migrants; facts of forced eviction by the owners of internally displaced
persons due to the absence of the state moratorium on the eviction of such
persons (Bobrova et al., 2022).
The Ukrainian government dared to partially solve the listed problems
by adopting the Resolution “On the approval of the Procedure for
compensation of costs for the temporary accommodation of internally
displaced persons who moved during the martial law period” on March 19,
2022. This Resolution stated the mechanism of compensation for persons
who accommodated IDPs in their dwellings free of charge (Resolution
No. 333, 2022). The indicated mechanism can be considered as an element
of the national housing policy under the martial law. Thus, it was the
beginning for the formation of the system of aordable housing in Ukraine.
However, the state housing program has never been developed.
The State Register of Property, which was damaged and destroyed as a
result of hostilities, acts of terrorism and sabotage caused by the military
aggression of the Russian Federation has been created in Ukraine since
April 2022. In particular, this register includes information on destroyed
real estate – real estate objects that have become unusable for its intended
purpose as a result of hostilities, acts of terrorism, sabotage caused by
the military aggression of the Russian Federation, and whose restoration
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Olga Avramova, Valentyna Sloma, Olha Kulinich, Tetyana Fedorenko y Svetlana Myrza
State housing policy of Ukraine: status and development perspectives
by means of repairs or reconstruction is not possible or is economically
impractical (Resolution No. 380, 2022: 1, Part 3). The existence of this
Register makes it possible to identify the situation in the housing facilities
stock, the population’s housing need for new dwellings, to develop budget
nancing for housing restoration and to protect the housing rights of
citizens.
In addition, the Decree of the President of Ukraine in April 2022 has
established the National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the
Consequences of the War. The main task of this agency is to develop
the Action Plan for the post-war recovery and development of Ukraine,
namely: recovery and development of transport, medical, social, municipal,
industrial infrastructure and housing, energy infrastructure, etc. (Decree
No 266/2022, 2022). We believe that the formation of a state agency that
will contribute to the recovery of the country from the consequences of the
war is an integral part of the state housing policy that is currently being
formed in Ukraine.
Unfortunately, Ukraine does not support the construction of housing
that could be rented out on commercial terms. Such housing could be built
both by private individuals (organizations) and local authorities in order
to replenish their budgets. Ukraine does not also have a transparent rental
housing market, the owner of which could be the state, local self-government
agencies or private entities (individuals or legal entities) (Tiulenieva,
2020). We believe that the construction of housing with the purpose of
renting it out on market terms would lead to an improvement of the quality
characteristics of the housing facilities stock under construction in general.
At the same time, the competition during the construction of such “income
houses” would lead to meeting the needs of dierent population groups
according to their incomes.
It should be noted that there was an attempt to regulate residential legal
relations of rent in 2019 by developing the draft law “On rental houses”
(Draft Law of Ukraine, 1995). However, the legislator’s attempt to reform
a certain area of housing relations, namely to regulate housing relations in
the rental sphere, was not successful. Therefore, there is still no systematic
legal regulation of existing lease relations. That led to abuse in the housing
market under the martial law, the absence of a register of housing that can
be oered to internally displaced persons, the impossibility of identifying
and accounting the country’s rental housing facilities stock for its further
analysis, in particular for the improvement of legislation and the formation
of the state policy in this area.
Nowadays, the problem of housing construction remains unsolved.
Thus, housing construction in 2020 decreased by 18.5% compared to 2019
(Solovchuk, 2021). Besides, the state actually ceased to be the subject of
housing construction. We believe that it is necessary to pay special attention
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to residential construction in terms of the military conict, when millions of
square meters of residential real estate have been destroyed. It is necessary
to decide on the possible nancing mechanisms for such construction,
in particular, the possibility of receiving state nancial assistance for
construction companies. Therefore, it is worth developing state programs
for mortgage lending for the restoration of damaged or destroyed housing,
as well as for the construction of new housing facilities stock. This indicates
the need for further reform of the Ukrainian state housing policy.
Analyzing housing programs that have been partially implemented, as
well as those that continue to operate in Ukraine (we are talking about the
State program for providing housing for youth for 2013-2023, the Program
for providing housing for veterans of the ATO/OOS, the “Aordable
Housing” Program, the “Aordable 7% Mortgage” Program) one can claim
that there is a certain discrimination of certain categories of citizens.
For example, there is no support to people who have reached retirement
age, people who are raising a child on their own, LGBT people, single women,
migrants, etc. There is such a situation because Ukrainian legislation does
not enshrine the category of “vulnerable persons” who need additional
state protection in the housing sector. Ukraine has not also implemented
the provisions of p. 10 of General comment No. 7: The right to adequate
housing (art. 11 (1) of the Covenant): Forced evictions, which states that:
women in all groups are especially vulnerable given the extent of statutory
and other forms of discrimination which often apply in relation to property
rights (including home ownership) or rights of access to property or
accommodation, and their particular vulnerability to acts of violence and
sexual abuse when they are rendered homeless (E/1998/22, 1997: 10).
At the same time, the problem of protecting housing rights of vulnerable
persons is relevant for dierent countries. For example, Chinese researchers
have concluded that governments should pay more attention to addressing
housing issues of vulnerable groups, including the elderly and low-income
households (Chen et al., 2022). The issue of housing assistance for low-
income families remains unsolved at the level of the American administration
(requiring a major expansion of the Housing Choice Voucher program as
well as other programs) (Immergluck, 2021).
Unfortunately, Ukraine does not pay appropriate attention to cases
of discrimination against the housing rights of vulnerable persons at the
state level, “in particular, the disabled, persons of non-traditional sexual
orientation, war veterans, victims of domestic violence, large families and
internally displaced persons. At the same time, theese categoryies of persons
are represented by a signicant segment of Ukrainian society” (Teremetskyi
et al, 2021: 1). Therefore, the need to ensure the housing rights of certain
vulnerable population groups is an integral part of the national housing
policy.
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Olga Avramova, Valentyna Sloma, Olha Kulinich, Tetyana Fedorenko y Svetlana Myrza
State housing policy of Ukraine: status and development perspectives
The presence of a vulnerable subjective factor in housing relations
requires its recognition at the state level in order it would be taken into
account when developing the national housing policy. Besides, the
establishment of a list of vulnerable persons fully complies with existing
international standards for ensuring stable living in housing, in particular
those recommended in General comment No. 7: The right to adequate
housing.
When identifying the vulnerability of the parties in housing legal
relations, it is necessary to emphasize that the term of “discrimination
in the housing sector” is not used in Ukrainian legislation. The problems
of discrimination are also bypassed at the scientic level and in practical
jurisprudence. However, it is the vulnerable individuals who experience
discrimination, particularly in the housing sector. It is conrmed by the
publication of Teremetskyi (2017), focused on solving issues related to the
restoration of housing rights of children who partially or completely lost
housing in the hostilities area on the territory of Ukraine.
We would like to give the following example that conrms the fact of
housing discrimination in Ukraine. Thus, a separate opinion of the judge
of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine H.V. Yurovska was published on
June 22, 2022. It was related to the Decision of the Constitutional Court
of Ukraine (Second Senate) in the case within the constitutional complaint
of Oleksii Volodymyrovych Abramovych regarding the compliance of
paragraph 2, Part 2 of the Art. 40 of the Housing Code of Ukraine (regarding
discrimination in exercising the right to housing) dated from June 22, 2022
No. 5-r(II)/2022 with the Constitution of Ukraine (constitutionality).
The judge in the indicated document mentioned discrimination
based on the place of residence when applying the appealed provision
of the Art. 40 of the Housing Code (Separate opinion of the judge of the
Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurovska H.V., 2022). Thus, the judge in
this case independently substantiated her position regarding the existing
discrimination and presented the facts in its support.
Summarizing the above, we emphasize that the national housing policy
of Ukraine is non-systematic, its directions are formed fragmentarily and
depending on urgent needs. It is conrmed by the following facts:
1. general strategy for the development of the housing facilities stock
has not been developed, in particular regarding its construction,
major repairs of infrastructure facilities related to housing;
2. mechanisms for the formation and accounting of rental housing
stock have not been established.
3. there is almost no public housing construction of the social housing
facilities stock;
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4. system for supporting the right to housing of vulnerable persons has
not been dened and mechanisms for overcoming discrimination of
housing rights have not been established.
We suggest to divide the state housing policy of Ukraine into the
following stages:
1. from 1992 to 2014 – the stage of formation and sustainable
development of the private housing facilities stock on the basis of
conducting privatization of the state housing facilities stock;
2. from 2014 to 2022 – the stage of starting the reform of the housing
facilities stock’s management by creating associations of co-owners
of apartment buildings;
3. from 2022 until present day – initiated the stage of restoration of
the housing facilities stock destroyed or damaged as a result of the
war, ensuring housing needs of internally displaced persons and
persons who have lost their homes. The specic feature of this stage
is that the martial law introduced in Ukraine on February 24, 2022
revealed the vulnerability of Ukraine’s national policy in the housing
sector. It is believed that the reason for this is the lack of a strategy
for the development of state housing policy.
3.2. Areas for improving the housing policy in Ukraine
Summarizing the above, we consider it expedient to oer and consider
possible directions for improving the housing policy of Ukraine. The national
policy in the housing sector has a protective nature. It denes regulatory
and legal principles and legislative framework for the functioning of the
residential sector, as well as its implementation at the state and regional
levels. Besides, the implementation of this policy involves the development
and implementation of specic programs (program activities) aimed at
solving the housing problem.
The modern state housing policy of Ukraine needs to be updated due
to two basic factors: 1) it’s not readiness at the legislative level; 2) the need
to restore the housing facilities stock as a result of the war. The national
housing policy should be dened in a separate regulatory legal act. In
particular, it can be the law on the state housing policy or updated codied
act in the housing sector. We oer to include the following areas into the
strategy of future general state housing policy:
• modernization of housing legislation by systematization of the
scattered regulatory and legal material;
• establishing the principles of housing construction taking into
account the situation of the destroyed and damaged housing
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Olga Avramova, Valentyna Sloma, Olha Kulinich, Tetyana Fedorenko y Svetlana Myrza
State housing policy of Ukraine: status and development perspectives
facilities stock as a result of military operations and mechanisms of
state nancial support;
• legal regulation of the rental housing fund, its monitoring and
identication of the actual condition;
• development of construction projects and management of the social
housing facilities stock;
• introduction of state registers of housing intended for rent, social
guaranteeing, vacant housing;
• formation of the concept of vulnerability within housing legal
relations, in particular, the denition of vulnerable persons groups;
• overcoming discrimination in the housing sector while exercising
the right to housing;
• overcoming cases of forced eviction;
• settlement of eviction moratorium cases and procedures.
In addition, regional housing programs need to be updated. However, it
is important to take into account the state of war in Ukraine since February
2022.
Conclusions
The housing policy is an integral part of the state policy of Ukraine.
It can be both nationwide (national) and regional (local). The concept of
the state housing policy of Ukraine at the level of public authorities was
developed and approved in 1995. Not a single regulatory act was adopted to
establish the principles of the housing policy in the state from that moment.
At the same time, proposals were put forward for the adoption of a new
fundamental legislative act in this area at the level of draft laws. Normative
and legal regulation of current housing relations has a dispersed character
because of its absence. There is also no unied system for ensuring housing
needs of various categories of citizens, in particular vulnerable persons.
Construction and management of the housing facilities stock require
additional reform.
The general state housing policy of Ukraine according to its development
can be divided into three stages. The main one is the current stage of the
state housing policy of Ukraine (from 2022 to the present day), which
stipulates the restoration of the housing facilities stock destroyed or
damaged as a result of the war, ensuring the housing needs of internally
displaced persons and persons who have lost their homes. The authors of
the article have proved that the state housing policy of Ukraine needs to
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Vol. 41 Nº 76 (2023): 46-63
dene its strategic areas taking into account the needs that arose as a result
of the war.
Conceptually updated approaches are needed for further housing
construction in relation to the destroyed or damaged housing as a result of
the military conict, in particular, establishing the expediency of restoration
and reconstruction of both certain territorial units and certain districts,
microdistricts in cities. At the level of state regional policy, it is necessary
to update existing programs or adopt new ones, which should be aimed
at: restoring destroyed or damaged housing facilities stock, providing
housing for internally displaced persons, overcoming the phenomena of
discrimination regarding the realization of the right to housing, updating
housing and municipal infrastructure taking into account the needs of
energy saving. The above emphasizes the urgency for reforming the existing
principles of Ukraine’s housing policy.
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