Housing for internally displaced persons

26 May 2023
Housing for internally displaced persons
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Draft bill #9310 of May 19, 2023 

Cosponsors: a group of 4 MPs, members of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, National Minorities, and Interethnic Relations 

Status: submitted to the Verkhovna Rada 

Who is affected: IDPs and local government bodies 

Summary of the bill: 

  • local governments will be responsible for providing housing for internally displaced persons. In particular, they will have to provide temporary accommodation for IDPs through purchase (acquisition), lease, construction, renovation of houses or dormitories, conversion of non-residential premises into residential ones, transfer of housing to communal or state ownership, and renovation of available housing 
  • while martial law is declared, certain categories of IDPs — the list is approved by the Cabinet — have the right to free temporary accommodation (provided the person pays for utility services). 

What is right: the bill addresses the problem of providing housing for internally displaced persons. 

What is wrong: 

  • the state shifts the responsibility for providing housing for internally displaced persons to local governments: this problem is not a part of their duties 
  • although local councils will have to spend significant funding on providing housing for IDPs, the bill does not propose a mechanism to compensate for these expenses.