Over 25,000 people have applied for housing vouchers in the first month since the launch of the program for internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories. The first stage of the program, developed by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine, is currently underway. It covers military personnel with the status of a combatant and people with disabilities as a result of the war who were forced to leave their homes.
“Over 90% of applications are from our military, participants in hostilities. This clearly shows that the program meets the real needs of people who defend the country and have lost their homes. The new component, i.e. Reconstruction, provides an opportunity to obtain housing, even if the dwelling remained in the temporarily occupied territory and cannot be inspected. Previously, people whose housing remained on the TOT could not receive compensation, thanks to the program, this approach has changed. We are working with international partners to scale the program so that it becomes available to as many families as possible who have lost the opportunity to return home,” emphasized Oleksiy Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine – Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine.
To date, almost 800 positive decisions have been made by profile commissions in communities for a total amount of over UAH 1.5 billion. The consideration of submitted applications is carried out in accordance with established procedures by profile commissions on the ground. Currently, the processing of applications submitted in the first peak week after the start of the program is underway. The focus is to ensure a consistent and understandable process for considering each application and timely informing people about the decisions made.
The geography of applications covers 23 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv. The largest number of applications is in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kyiv regions and the capital – from 2 to 4 thousand applications were recorded here in each region. At the same time, Volyn, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions are leading in terms of the pace of processing applications and the number of decisions made.
The largest number of applications for housing vouchers was submitted by people whose homes remained under occupation in the Donetsk region – over 8,000 applications. Thousands of applications were also received from residents of the TOT of Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions and almost 700 more applications from people who were forced to leave the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.
As soon as it becomes possible to reserve funds, every person who applied and received a positive response will be informed. A housing voucher in the amount of UAH 2 million will allow recipients of support to purchase a new home.
To date, the State Budget for 2026 has already allocated about UAH 14 billion for the housing voucher program for IDPs from temporarily occupied territories. This will allow providing housing vouchers to about 7 thousand families. In parallel, work is underway on additional financial support for the program, in particular, on attracting the first tranche of EUR 120 million from the Council of Europe Development Bank. This resource will be enough to help about 3 thousand more people purchase housing. At the same time, negotiations are underway with international partners to attract additional funding – both to cover current demand and to further scale up the program.
Recall that a housing voucher is an electronic document that will allow you to purchase housing in a safe region or invest in its new construction or use it as a mortgage payment.
At the first stage, only those internally displaced persons who simultaneously meet the following criteria can apply for a voucher:
have IDP status;
have the status of a combatant or a person with a disability as a result of the war (regardless of whether they received it after a full-scale invasion or during the ATO/JFO, starting in 2014);
have confirmation of their previous place of residence in the temporarily occupied territory, which is reflected in the IDP certificate;
have a current IDP certificate with the address of actual residence in the territory controlled by Ukraine.
Participation in the program is possible if the applicant and his/her family (spouse and minor children) do not own other housing in the territory controlled by Ukraine, except for cases of outstanding mortgages or housing in an active hostilities zone. Participation is also possible provided that the family has not received housing support in other programs and does not have valid applications in eRecovery.
The program was developed by the Ministry of Community and Territories Development of Ukraine jointly with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, and in partnership with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity. The program operates on the basis of the State Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property (SRDP). Program partners are the Eurasia Foundation, the Eastern Europe Foundation and the World Bank (project “HOPE: Housing Repair for the Restoration of People’s Rights and Opportunities”).