After four years of full-scale war in Ukraine, more than 4.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) who lost their homes due to hostilities have been officially registered. The state is launching various programmes to provide such families with housing: under the state programme “eVidnovlennya”, thousands of families have already purchased new homes, and by the end of 2025, a decision has been made to transfer 112 state-owned and seized properties (dormitories, hotels, school premises) for the needs of IDPs. However, in practice, many ready-built houses remain empty because displaced persons are not allowed to move in.
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Empty flats and closed registers
In regions far from the front line, local authorities regularly report on the availability of free housing for displaced persons. This includes renovated dormitories, communal flats, and facilities built with the support of international donors. The problem arises at the distribution stage.
In 2025, local media in Lviv region wrote about a renovated dormitory where some of the rooms had remained unoccupied for more than six months. Community representatives explained this by “technical procedures” and the lack of approved lists. IDPs who were on the waiting list told journalists that their applications had not been considered for months, and that the commissions had postponed meetings without publicly explaining the reasons.
A similar situation was recorded in Dnipro, where in 2025, after the completion of the construction of a modular town, some of the houses were not occupied immediately. The city authorities cited the need to finalise documents for the land and connect utilities. IDPs, who in the meantime were renting accommodation at their own expense, drew attention to the gap between official reports and actual access to housing.
In the Kyiv region, journalists from regional publications reported on apartments purchased with subsidies that were not transferred to specific families for a long time due to a change in the distribution procedure. The new criteria required additional certificates and confirmations, which effectively halted the process for several months.
In the Zakarpattia region, the ombudsman and the media recently uncovered a glaring example: in the village of Dubrynychi, a 100-bed house for IDPs was built and equipped with funds from the Red Cross Society, but the local community submitted documents to the OVA claiming that the house was “unfinished” and therefore it was not included in the registers of temporary accommodation. “The situation seems absurd: the housing was equipped with the support of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, but the community reported to the Regional State Administration that it was allegedly ‘unready’. While the evacuation continues and people are looking for at least some kind of roof over their heads, the ready rooms are just gathering dust,” said Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. This is not the first such case in one community: earlier, a similar building with 100 places was leased for commercial use instead of being used to settle displaced persons. In response, the ombudsman immediately sent response documents to the Transcarpathian Regional State Administration and the Dubrynytsia Village Council with a request to add the facility to the list of housing for IDPs and “finally settle people there.” “Every family deserves decent shelter, and this facility must work for people and fulfil its function,” he added.
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Queues without movement
The mechanism for providing social housing involves a registration and points system. Priority is given to large families, people with disabilities, and families of military personnel. In practice, even those who meet the criteria do not receive offers for years.
In 2025, human rights organisations recorded complaints about the lack of transparency in the work of housing commissions. Meeting minutes are not published everywhere. Some communities do not update their waiting lists in the public domain. IDPs say they cannot find out where they are on the list and why decisions are being delayed.
In Kharkiv, according to local journalists, several dozen flats in a renovated communal property building remained unoccupied, while thousands of IDPs were listed in the city register. Officials explained the delay by the need to complete the formation of a supervisory board for distribution. Procedural issues effectively blocked the settlement.
Formal grounds for refusal
A separate dimension of the problem concerns the status of the displaced persons themselves. In 2026, some communities began to more actively verify the actual place of residence of IDPs, which affects their right to claim housing in that particular community. People who had temporarily left the country or changed their rental address were excluded from the lists.
In 2025, a story gained publicity in the Poltava region about a family that was not allowed to participate in a competition for social housing because they had not been registered in the community for more than six months. The family had actually been living there since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but due to formal requirements, they were unable to confirm their continuous residence.
Another major barrier is the rental market. Since the majority of IDPs live in rented flats (mostly illegally), they face prejudice from landlords. According to a survey by the OLX Real Estate portal, 28% of flat owners refuse to rent to IDPs altogether. The most common explanations are “suspicion of insolvency,” fear of the tenant “disappearing,” and concerns about the safety of the property. Some landlords also openly admit their own prejudice against IDPs (12%) or are guided by negative experiences (9%). In addition, many landlords pay attention to the “origin” and political views of tenants: 70% are sensitive to the tenant’s regional origin, 44% to their position on the war. In such conditions, finding housing for IDPs remains a painful challenge. Although regulations require that IDPs be provided with social housing and compensated for rental costs, in practice, a significant portion of communities have not established any temporary housing funds.
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Renting as the only alternative
While some social housing remains vacant, most IDPs remain on the rental market. Prices in large cities rose in 2025–2026. The state programme to compensate for part of the rent does not cover the full cost of housing, and its funding depends on the availability of funds in the budget.
Housing policy experts point to a gap between statistics on provision and actual access. The number of places created in reports does not equal the number of apartments actually occupied. The reasons vary from bureaucratic procedures to a lack of political will to speed up distribution.
The need for transparency
As of early 2026, there are still millions of internally displaced persons in Ukraine. Some of them have lost their homes permanently. The social fund formed during the years of war could become the basis for a long-term solution to the problem. Without open registers, clear criteria and public accountability at the local level, even the available square metres do not guarantee a roof over one’s head.
The issue of housing for IDPs is gradually shifting from the realm of humanitarian aid to that of systemic housing policy. Empty flats against the backdrop of overcrowded rented accommodation show that the problem lies not only in construction but also in access.
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