Introduction of housing rental subsidies for IDPs: a new experimental project of the government of Ukraine

The Government of Ukraine has launched an experimental project to provide subsidies for internally displaced persons (IDPs) to ease their financial burden on renting housing. According to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, which was adopted at the meeting on October 25 at the request of the Ministry of Social Policy, the project will cover nine regions of Ukraine and will operate for two years. Subsidies will be provided to cover the full or partial cost of housing rent, as well as partial compensation for personal income tax and military service.

This project is designed for IDPs living in the unoccupied territories of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhya, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson regions. At the same time, subsidies will not be provided in those parts of the regions where hostilities are ongoing. For example, in the Luhansk region, the program will not operate at the moment, since a large part of it remains occupied.

A key condition for receiving a subsidy is the presence of a registered housing rental agreement. For this purpose, the Pension Fund has created a special database where all registered residential lease contracts will be stored. The Cabinet of Ministers approved a model contract that takes into account the interests of both tenants and landlords, which aims to ensure transparency and mutual benefit of agreements between the parties.

It is worth noting that IDPs who will use the housing rental subsidy will also be able to receive other forms of state support, including subsidies for housing and communal services. This decision was an important step to ensure comprehensive support for displaced persons who need financial assistance in settling in a new place of residence.

The size of the housing rental subsidy will depend on the social norms of the area, which is 13.65 square meters per person or at least 35.22 square meters per family. This enables households with IDPs to receive assistance in renting more spacious housing if family size requires it.

In general, a rent subsidy will be awarded if the cost of housing rent exceeds the mandatory payment, which is set at 30% of the total household income. This approach allows taking into account family income and providing additional support to those who need it most.