Ukraine is set to launch a pilot initiative to establish a social rental housing fund across 25 communities, aimed at providing affordable municipal housing to vulnerable populations.
The program will construct rental housing owned by local communities and offered at below-market rates, targeting internally displaced persons, veterans, large families, people with disabilities, and essential workers in social and critical infrastructure sectors.
Applications have come from communities hosting significant numbers of internally displaced persons, including seven regional centers: Lviv, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kropyvnytskyi, and Poltava. Additional applications were received from cities across nine regions, such as Kremenchuk, Drohobych, Bucha, Voznesensk, Zbarazh, Berdychiv, and Obukhiv, along with some areas currently under temporary occupation.
Notable proposals include the Siverskyy-Donetsk City Administration, which suggested the village of Halepya in the Kyiv region, and the Bakhmut City Council, which proposed the Goshchansk settlement-territorial community in Rivne.
After reviewing applications, a commission will select three to five communities to participate in the pilot phase of the two-year project. The initiative, backed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission (EC), is funded with €100 million, split equally between a loan and a grant.
The program represents a significant effort by Ukraine to support displaced and vulnerable populations while strengthening local housing infrastructure.
