Olena Shulyak: The main goal of the new housing policy is to create legislative preconditions for the emergence of social housing in Ukraine

The current Housing Code was developed and adopted in 1983, so we have very inefficient housing legislation. Millions of citizens in the country are currently in need of housing solutions, so reforming housing policy is a priority for both the Ukrainian government and parliament.

This was stated by Olena Shulyak, MP, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning.

"On January 3, the government approved a draft law on the basic principles of housing policy. Now this document is being considered by the Verkhovna Rada, where it will be approved by the committees and then considered in the session hall. And it is very important to understand that this draft law is one of the indicators, a marker of the implementation of the Ukraine Facility plan, under which Ukraine receives €50 billion from the EU," the politician said.

According to her, the adoption of the relevant legislation will create the prerequisites for social housing to appear in Ukraine.

"Currently, our communities do not own or have on their balance sheet any appropriate housing that can be used to accommodate either IDPs or those categories of the population in need. Accordingly, creating legislative preconditions for social housing to appear in Ukraine is the main goal that the new housing policy will address," the MP emphasized.

She added that the only proposal coming from people is that housing should be as affordable as possible for any category of citizens.

The parliamentarian reminded that as of today, almost 600 thousand Ukrainians are on housing waiting lists and different types of housing registrations. In addition, there are almost 5 million officially registered IDPs in Ukraine, of which more than 26% need social protection - these are people who cannot buy or rent housing on their own. We have more than 1 million military personnel, many of whom are not provided with housing. At the same time, it is expected that there will be more than 4 million veterans and their families after the war ends, and they will also need to address the housing issue.