Living conditions of the internally displaced persons in Ukraine

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Living conditions of the internally displaced persons in Ukraine

T.O. Hnatyuk, PhD (Political Science), Senior Researcher

Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

The number of the registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine has reached 1.4 million. Since the beginning of the displacement, the housing problem has been one of the main (along with employment) for this category of internal migrants. Over the past six years, some steps have been taken by the Ukrainian state and the international organizations to accommodate and improve IDPs' living conditions in new settlements. However, this issue remains relevant today. It is appropriate to analyze the living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine with the development of specific indicators. The purpose of the study is to assess the living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine for the period from March 2016 to June 2019. The author analyzes the reports of the National Monitoring System on the Situation of IDPs, reports of the international organizations as well as the relevant legislative framework of Ukraine and state programs. Methods of analysis and synthesis, comparison method have allowed identifying the indicators that can be used as measures of the assessment of living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine in the spheres of “Housing” and “Safety of living”. The innovation character of the article is represented by five indicators for assessing the living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine: “Households of the IDPs living in their own housing”, “Households of the IDPs living in separate housing”, “Self-assessment of satisfaction with living conditions of the IDPs”, “Self-assessment of safety of living conditions of the IDPs”, “Self-assessment of safety of the environment and infrastructure of the settlement of the IDPs”. The following positive trends are identified: inclusion of this group into the state lending programs for home purchases; the construction of temporary social housing for the IDPs; an increase in the share of the IDPs living in their own housing; three-quarters of the IDPs can afford to rent separate housing; the IDPs highly value the quality of living conditions and the level of security of the living environment. It is established that the limited ability of the IDPs to acquire their own housing or to obtain social housing in ownership remain the main problems. Th e following government policy measures are proposed: continued raising of funds from the international donors for the construction of social housing for the IDPs; regular financing of the Affordable Housing Program from the state budget of Ukraine; expanding the opportunity for the IDPs to participate in the Affordable Housing Program due to changing funding conditions from 50/50 to 70/30; launching of separate targeted programs for the acquisition of affordable housing for the IDPs.

Keywords: internally displaced persons, IDPs, living conditions, housing, indicators of living conditions, social housing, Ukraine.

T.O. ГНАТЮК, канд. політ. наук, ст. наук. співроб.

Інститут демографії та соціальних досліджень

ім. М.В. Птухи НАН України

УМОВИ ПРОЖИВАННЯ ВНУТРІШНЬО ПЕРЕМІЩЕНИХ ОСІБ В УКРАЇНІ

Кількість зареєстрованих внутрішньо переміщених осіб (ВПО) в Україні налічує 1,4 млн. З моменту початку переміщення житлова проблема є однією з основних (поряд з працевлаштуванням) для даної категорії внутрішніх мігрантів. За останні шість років українська держава та міжнародні організації здійснили певні кроки для розміщення та покращення умов проживання ВПО у нових місцях розселення. Проте, й сьогодні це питання залишається актуальним. Доцільно проаналізувати умови проживання ВПО в Україні із виробленням відповідних індикаторів оцінювання. Метою дослідження є оцінювання умов проживання ВПО в Україні, для чого проаналізовано звіти Національної системи моніторингу ситуації з ВПО за період з березня 2016 р. до червня 2019 р., звіти міжнародних організацій, а також відповідну законодавчу базу України та державні програми. Методи аналізу, синтезу, порівняння допомогли виокремити показники, що можуть бути використані як індикатори оцінювання умов проживання ВПО в аспектах «Житло» і «Безпека проживання». Запропоновано п'ять індикаторів для оцінювання умов проживання ВПО в Україні: «Домогосподарства ВПО, які мешкають у власному житлі», «Домогосподарства ВПО, які мешкають в окремому житлі», «Самооцінка задоволеності умовами проживання ВПО», «Самооцінка безпеки умов проживання ВПО», «Самооцінка безпеки середовища та інфраструктури населеного пункту ВПО». У результаті аналізування умов проживання ВПО в Україні виявлено такі позитивні тенденції: включення цієї групи до державних програм кредитування придбання житла; будівництво тимчасового соціального житла для внутрішньо переміщених осіб; зростання частки переселенців, які мешкають у власному житлі, три чверті переселенців наразі можуть собі дозволити орендувати окреме житло; переселенці високо оцінюють якість умов проживання та рівень безпеки середовища проживання. З'ясовано, що основними проблемами залишаються обмежена можливість переселенців купувати власне житло та отримання соціального житла у власність. Запропоновано здійснити такі заходи державної політики: продовження залучення коштів міжнародних інвесторів для будівництва соціального житла для переселенців; регулярне фінансування програми «Доступне житло» з державного бюджету України; розширення можливості участі ВПО у програмі «Доступне житло» через зміну умов фінансування з 50/50 на 70/30; запровадження окремих цільових програм для ВПО з метою придбання доступного житла.

Ключові слова: внутрішньо переміщені особи, ВПО, умови проживання, житло, індикатори умов проживання, соціальне житло, Україна.

Introduction

internally displaced person

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have appeared in Ukraine since March 2014 due to the annexation by the Russian Federation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The beginning of the military conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine in May 2014 intensified internal displacement. As of middle of December 2019 [13], there were 1.4 million IDPs registered by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

Relevance of the paper. Since the moment of displacement, the housing issue has been one of the main (along with employment) for this category of internal migrants in Ukraine. Over the past six years, some steps have been taken by the Ukrainian state and the international organizations to accommodate and improve IDPs' living conditions in new settlements. However, this issue remains relevant today. For example, as of June 2019 [36, p. 23], only 12 % of the IDPs lived in their own housing.

Literature overview. The living conditions of the IDPs have been within the scope of both Ukrainian researchers and the international organizations. The legislative acts and the first steps of the Ukrainian state in the direction of providing housing for the IDPs for the period 2014-2016 were analysed by Novikova O.F. and Logachiova L.M. in the book “Internally Displaced Persons: From Overcoming Obstacles to Success Strategies” (2016). The tools and the ways for solving the IDPs' housing problem are presented in the National Report “Policy of Integration of Ukrainian Society in the Context of Challenges and Threats of Events in the Donbass” (2016) [16]. The book “Integration of the Internally Displaced Persons into Territorial Communities: Diagnosis and Provision Mechanisms” (2018) written by the team of authors Novikova O.F., Antoniuk V.P., Pankova O.V. has presented, among other things, expert assessments of the IDPs' housing issue [4]. Solving the housing issue of the IDPs through state programs has been highlighted by the authors of the book “Economic Efficiency vs Social Justice: Priorities of Ukraine's Development at the Stage of the Crisis” (2019) [7]. Some aspects of the IDPs' living conditions are mentioned in the analytical report “Characteristics of the IDP beneficiaries of Caritas Ukraine” [27] conducted by the Migration Studies Department of the Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2018).

Living conditions and housing situation of the IDPs in Ukraine are also monitored by the international organizations. So far, the main source of information on the living conditions of the IDPs has been the National monitoring system on the situation of the IDPs that was launched by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in March 2016; the system runs regular update rounds every three or four months.

The needs of the IDPs are analyzed periodically by the Ukrainian Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The relevant studies include an analysis of the IDPs' needs in Kyiv and Luhansk regions (2015) [37, 38], a survey of regional housing programs for the IDPs (2018-2019) [29], an analysis of the IDPs' households that participated in the Affordable Housing Program (2019) [26].

The aim of the article and innovation character

The aim of the study is to assess the living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine during the period from March 2016 to June 2019. For this purpose the author has offered five indicators for assessing the living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine that can be divided into two groups “Housing” and “Safety of living”: “Households of the IDPs living in their own housing”, “Households of the IDPs living in separate housing”, “Selfassessment of satisfaction with living conditions of the IDPs”, “Self-assessment of safety of living conditions of the IDPs”, “Self-assessment of safety of the environment and infrastructure of the settlement of the IDPs”.

Data and methods. The author has analysed the reports of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs, reports of the international organizations as well as the relevant legislative framework of Ukraine and state programs. Methods of analysis and synthesis, comparison method have allowed identifying the indicators that can be used as measures of the assessment of the living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine.

The main results of the research

The need to resolve the housing issue of the IDPs has been reflected in the legislation of Ukraine. For instance, the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement of Rights and Freedoms of the IDPs” (2014) [20] declares that the state provides assistance to the IDPs in solving their housing problem. According to Article 9 of the Law, an internally displaced person has the right to:

• create conditions for his/her permanent or temporary residence;

• payment for the cost of utilities, electricity and heat, natural gas in places of compact settlement of the IDPs (modular towns, dormitories, health camps, sanatoriums, health resorts, hotels, etc.) according to appropriate tariffs that are established for such facilities, services and goods for the population;

• obtaining from public authorities, local self-government bodies and private entities the possibility of free temporary residence within six months from the date of registration of an internally displaced person (upon condition of a payment for utility costs); this term can be extended for large families, people with disabilities, the elderly.

Therefore, the Law ensures free temporary housing for the IDPs only for six months from the moment of their registration. Exemptions are provided only for particularly vulnerable categories: the disabled people, large families and the elderly.

The Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On providing monthly targeted assistance to the IDPs to cover living expenses, including housing and utility services” (2014) [23] declares relevant payments for a period not exceeding six months from the date of the IDPs application; amounts of the payments are also determined. As of 14.08.2019, the payments were as follows: for an ablebodied person -- UAH 442 (USD 17.6 The official exchange rate of hryvnia against the US dollar of the National Bank of Ukraine (as of August 14, 2019) was taken: UAH 25.15 per USD 1 [15].), for a retired person and a child -- UAH 1,000 (USD 39.8), for people with disabilities -- from one subsistence income up to 130 % of the subsistence income (depending on the disability group). However, the amount per family may not be higher than UAH 3,000 (USD 119.3), for families with disabled people -- no more than UAH 3,400 (USD 135.2), for large families -- no more than UAH 5,000 (USD 198.8).

There is a comparison of the prices for renting one-room apartments in the regions with the highest level of the IDPs (as of December, 2018) [14]: Donetsk region -- UAH 2,145; Lugansk region -- UAH 1,783; Kyiv city -- UAH 6,636; Kharkiv region -- UAH 3,447; Dnipropetrovsk region -- UAH 2,452; Kyiv region -- UAH 2,906. Thus, the state assistance for the IDPs has been insufficient to cover the cost of renting of an apartment and paying for utility services.

Resolving the IDPs' housing issue by facilitating the construction of permanent, temporary and social housing was proclaimed in the Comprehensive State Program “On support, social adaptation and reintegration of the Ukrainian citizens who moved from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and the regions of the antiterrorist operation to other regions of Ukraine, for the period up to 2017” (2015) [21]. However, the measures proposed in the Program mainly concerned temporary housing (creation of a social housing fund, construction of social towns, etc.). Allocation of pieces of land for construction in rural areas including depopulated villages was on the list of long-term solutions. Such proposals did not find support among the IDPs.

The need for access of the IDPs to high quality and permanent housing has been emphasized in the “Strategy for the integration of the IDPs and the implementation of long-term decisions on internal displacement for the period up to 2020” (2017) [24]. Three-directional measures have been suggested in the document: on permanent housing (implementation of a credit and financial mechanism to increase access to permanent and proficient housing), on temporary housing (granting priority access to social and temporary housing for the IDPs) and on rental housing by the IDPs (reduction of tax rates and / or tax exemptions of landlords, assistance with free legal support for entering into housing rent contract).

Moreover, the Action Plan for the Strategy implementation [22] has focused on identifying the IDPs' housing needs (including, among other things, inventory of habitable real estate), providing IDPs with access to social housing (in particular, taking the IDPs into social housing records, monitoring of relevant regional social housing programs, etc.). Among the positive features of the Plan are anticipation of the financing of the budget program “Provision of the state support for the construction (purchase) of affordable housing” and enquiry into the possibility of increasing the expenditures; implementation of measures to ensure proper funding of relevant regional programs; enquiry into the possibility of introducing interest-free rates for financing the construction and purchase of housing for the IDPs. At the same time, the issue of entering into housing rent contracts has received little attention: only public awareness activity has been planned. However, housing rent has been the most typical among the IDPs in Ukraine. As of June, 2019 [36], 64 % of the IDPs rented different types of housing.

The National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs that was launched by the International Organization for Migration in March 2016 and that has already run for 14 rounds, allows to see the changes that have taken place in the housing situation of the IDPs in Ukraine over the last three years (Table 1).

According to the results of the 14 rounds of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs, more than a half of the IDPs rent housing, and the share of these IDPs increased from 56.8 % in March 2016 to 64.0 % in June 2019. A rented apartment remains the most popular type of the IDPs housing: at the beginning of 2016, 35.3 % of the respondents rented an apartment, in the next three years their number reached almost half of all respondents. At the same time, during the monitoring period, the share of the IDPs who rent a room or a house has almost reduced by half.

Table 1. IDPs' accommodation types. %

Source: author's calculations based on the data from [31-36].

Despite of the high share of the IDPs who rent housing, rent has been a serious burden on family budget, even for the working IDPs [30, с. 45]. Additionally, the IDPs claim unequal treatment of landlords [3, p. 27]: they suffer from higher prices charged for them in comparison with the prices for local people; reluctance of landlords to enter into long-term contracts with the IDPs that don't allow the IDPs to receive subsidies from the state for payment of utility services; eviction of the IDPs in the summer from the premises in the resort areas, as landlords prefer renting housing daily during this period of the year.

According to the results of the 14th round of the National Monitoring, as of June 2019 12 % of the IDPs said they lived in their own housing. This presents a threefold increase in comparison with September 2016: from 4 % to 14 % (Table 1).

Since the end of November 2017 the IDPs have had the right to participate in the State Program “Affordable Housing” [2], which is implemented by the State specialized financial institution “State Youth Housing Assistance Fund”. Under the terms of the Program [8], the IDPs are provided with state assistance of 50 % of the cost of construction (purchase) of affordable housing and / or a concessionary mortgage. However, the Program has a number of limitations, among them: housing has to be purchased on the primary real estate market only; a limited list of real estate developers is provided; a limit of living space per family member has been defined; housing costs of 1 m² have been set. In addition, the IDPs should deposit 50 % of the cost of housing within 15 days since the signing of a contract. That seems to be quite a tough deadline.

At the same time, funding for The Affordable Housing Program has faced some difficulties. For instance, in 2018 only UAH 100 million was allocated from the state budget of Ukraine instead of UAH 1 billion, which allowed to buy apartments for 300 families (instead of 3.5 thousand). In 2019 the state budget received UAH 300 million. However, the allocation of funds usually occurs at the end of the year, which creates additional difficulties for submission of the IDPs' applications. According to the State Youth Housing Assistance Fund [28], in 2019 the applications were accepted only from the 3rd of December to the 5th of December. During these three days, 6 678 IDPs were able to submit their documents.

The UNHCR has evaluated [26] the Affordable Housing Program in terms of the families who received housing as the participants of the Program in 2017. The analysis has showed that the IDP households that participated in the Program have a significantly higher income level than the IDP households in Ukraine on average. Salary has been the main source of income for 76 % of the respondents; majority of the families have had multiple sources of income; 63 % of the respondents used personal savings to pay 50 % of the cost of housing (30 % of the respondents used a private loan). Thus, within the Affordable Housing Program, only wealthy IDPs can receive assistance from the state in purchasing housing.

Living with a host family or relatives has been a popular option among the internally displaced people. According to the National Monitoring System, almost every fourth respondent reported this type of housing between September 2016 and December 2017. However, by March 2019, the share of such IDPs halved to 13.0 % among all respondents.

The existing programs in Ukraine mainly relate to providing the IDPs with temporary social housing. Some measures in this direction were offered in the Comprehensive State Program for Supporting the IDPs (December, 2015) [21], among them: establishing of a social housing stock from which the IDPs can rent housing on preferential terms; implementation of projects for construction of specialized social settlements; construction of cottage settlements for the IDPs, etc. However, the right of the IDPs to receive social housing was approved only in September 2018 by the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Housing Fund for Social Purposes” as to Conditions for Providing the IDPs with Social Housing” [18].

The Ministry of the Temporary Occupied Territories and IDPs of Ukraine initiated in 2017 a budget program on granting territorial communities with financial support (subsidies) in order to provide the IDPs with temporary housing [17]. According to the changes made in August 2019 [19], subsidies from the state budget are provided on condition of co-funding where local budgets cover no less than 30 % (previously there was 50/50 funding). According to the Ministry [5], 188 apartments were purchased with the help of a subsidy in 2017-2018 and approximately 600 IDPs were provided with temporary housing, and in 2019 it was planned to purchase 59 apartments.

Special programs where the IDPs can participate have been implemented in the regions of Ukraine. However, the analysis of these programs that was conducted by the UNHCR in 2018 [29] identified the following drawbacks:

• regional programs provide only communal and temporary housing to the IDPs, which does not involve acquisition of property rights;

• local authorities are afraid of turning the IDPs into voters and thus a destabilizing factor for their local communities.

Temporary housing for the IDPs is being built mostly by international donors. The European Union has been a donor to such projects in Donetsk region as, for example, “Housing for the Internally Displaces Persons”, “Building the capacity of the community of Mariupol to support the IDPs and locals affected by the conflict”, “Providing housing for the most vulnerable IDPs and the inhabitants of Kramatorsk city” [7, p. 289]. The project “Promoting the development of social infrastructure. Ukrainian Social Investment Fund V” has been funded by the German government. Under the scope of the project there are repairs of community-owned buildings in order to make them suitable for the IDPs. The project is being implemented in Kyiv and Lviv cities as well as in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions. Social housing for the IDPs has been created in six towns of the Kharkiv region (Zolochiv, Dergachi, Izium, Krasnograd, Loz- ove, Bogodukhov). These are 16 apartments and 99 dormitories for 300 people as well as seven infrastructure facilities [12]. In addition, seven modular towns (in the cities of Kharkiv, Zaporizhie, Pavlograd, Kryvyi Rih, Nikopol, Kamenskoe and Dnipro) were built with the money of the German government at the beginning of 2015, with termination of their functionality in the middle of 2017 [11].

A small share of the IDPs lives in dormitories and collective centers. However, according to the National Monitoring System, the share of the IDPs has almost halved in these types of housing in the last three years. That could be explained by the temporal nature of the accommodation as well as poor living conditions there.

At the same time, temporary stay in the modular towns became permanent for some part of the IDPs as the most vulnerable categories of the IDPs live there and they have no possibility to move on to better houses. Despite deterioration of the living conditions as a result of termination of these towns' functionality, the IDPs do not intend to leave their homes. The social climate in the towns depends on the availability of financial support from the local authorities. For instance, a modular town in the city of Dnipro has received financial support from the budgets of the city and the region. That is why the IDPs pay only a nominal fee for their residence (150 UAH per person per month) [25]. A completely different situation occurred in a modular town in the city of Pavlograd: when the prices for utility services were raised three-fold and the financial support from the local authority was stopped, some of the inhabitants moved away and left debts [9].

Experts note [11] that, in general, modular towns are characterized by the following problems: lack of integration into local communities, alcohol and drug addiction, domestic conflicts, dependence on humanitarian assistance, and unwillingness to work. However, the IDPs who live in such centers or modular towns complain of unjustified measures of restriction from the administration of some towns, fear of being forcibly evicted, lack of personal space, lack of special equipment or lack of facilities for people with disabilities [3, p. 26]. Thus, the collective settlements of the IDPs cannot be considered as an acceptable long-term solution.

Indicators of living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine. The National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs has allowed identifying the indicators that can be used as measures of the assessment of living conditions of the IDPs in Ukraine. The author has offered five indicators: “Households of the IDPs living in their own housing”, “Households of the IDPs living in separate housing”, “Self-assessment of satisfaction with living conditions of the IDPs”, “Self-assessment of safety of living conditions of the IDPs”, “Self-assessment of safety of the environment and infrastructure of the settlement of the IDPs”. The first three indicators belong to a group “Housing”, and the next two indicators belong to a group “Safety of living”.

Fig. 1. IDPs' households living in own housing, %

Source: author's calculations based on the data from [31-36].

Indicator “Households of the IDPs living in their own housing”. 'The indicator depicts the share of the IDPs who live in their own housing, and belongs to the “Housing” group. The indicator is calculated as: the share of the IDPs who live in their own housing among the total number of the IDPs who were interviewed within the framework of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs.

From September 2016, when the indicator was introduced into the National Monitoring System, by June 2019, the share of the IDPs who live in their own housing has tripled: from 4 % at the beginning of the period to 12 % at the end of the period (Fig. 1). This category of the IDPs reached its highest level in September 2018 (15 %). Another small jump to 14 % was recorded in March 2019.

Indicator “Households of the IDPs living in separate housing”. The indicator depicts a share of the IDPs who live in separate housing, and belongs to the “Housing” group. The indicator is calculated as: the share of the IDPs who live in separate housing among the total number of the IDPs who were interviewed within the framework of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs.

During the three years of running the National Monitoring System, the share of the IDPs who live in separate housing increased from 49 % to 72 % (Fig. 2). Particularly significant growth has been observed among the IDPs with the own housing. For instance, in March 2019, 14 % of the IDPs informed that they lived in their own housing, which is three and a half times more than the corresponding figure in September 2016. However, a rented apartment remains the most popular type of housing for the IDPs. At the beginning of 2016, there were 35.3 % of the respondents who rented an apartment. In the next three years their share reached almost half of all respondents. At the same time, during the monitoring period, the share of the IDPs who rent a house has almost halved.

Fig. 2. IDPs' households living in separate housing, % Source: author's calculations based on the data from [31-36].

As of June 2019, there were more than 70 % of the IDPs who lived in separate housing. In addition, during the period of the National Monitoring this indicator increased by almost a quarter. A half of the IDPs lived in rented apartments. The share of the IDPs who live in their own housing is also increasing.

Indicator “Self-assessment of satisfaction with living conditions of the IDPs”. The indicator depicts the level of satisfaction with living conditions of the IDPs, and belongs to the “Housing” group. The indicator is calculated as: the share of the IDPs who declared satisfaction with living conditions among the total number of the IDPs who were interviewed within the framework of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs.

During the three years of the National Monitoring, the IDPs' satisfaction with living conditions has increased (Table 2). Mostly the IDPs are satisfied with the electricity. However, living space as well as heating and heat insulation remain as the main complaints of the IDPs.

Indicator “Self-assessment of safety of living conditions of the IDPs”. The indicator depicts self-assessment of safety of living conditions of the IDPs, and belongs to the “Safety of living” group. The indicator is calculated as: the share of the IDPs who declared satisfaction with safety among all other elements of living conditions Respondents could choose more than one option. among the total number of the IDPs who were interviewed within the framework of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs.

During the period from March 2016 to June 2019, the share of the IDPs who were satisfied with safety as one of the elements of living conditions increased by 12.6 percentage points: from 78.4 % to 91.0 % (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. IDPs' satisfaction with safety of living, % of satisfied Source: author's calculations based on the data from [31-36].

Table 2. IDPs' satisfaction with living conditions, % of satisfied

Source: author's calculations based on the data from [31-36].

Indicator “Self-assessment of safety of the environment and infrastructure of the settlement of the IDPs”. 'The indicator depicts self-assessment of safety of the environment and infrastructure of the settlement of the IDPs, and belongs to the “Safety of living” group.

The indicator is calculated as: a share of the IDPs who answered “I feel safe” during the assessment of the environment and infrastructure of the settlement, among the total number of the IDPs who were interviewed within the framework of the National monitoring system on the situation of IDPs.

Fig. 4. IDPs who answered “I feel safe” during assessment of safety of the environment and infrastructure of their settlement, %

Source: author's calculations based on the data from [31-36].

The vast majority of the IDPs reported that they feel safe in the settlements where they live. However, the indicator has decreased by 13.2 percentage points since September 2016 (Fig. 4). At the beginning of the period, the share of the satisfied IDPs was over 90 %.

Then there was a gradual decline in the level of satisfaction with the safety of the environment. It reached its lowest point in March 2018: less than three-quarters of the IDPs felt safe. However, since September 2018 and until the last round of the National Monitoring in June 2019, the indicator has remained stable at point 80 %.

Conclusion

Six years after the appearance of the IDPs in Ukraine, the situation with the living conditions of this category of internal migrants remains rather difficult.

The main problem has been the limited ability of the IDPs to buy their own housing. Although the IDP category is included in the national and regional housing programs, the proposed conditions of participation are not favorable enough.

Thus, only a small number of the IDPs are able to participate in the programs. At the same time, the assistance from the Ukrainian state is mostly temporary and ineffective.

The construction and repairs of temporary social housing that have been made possible by the financial support of foreign donors, does not solve the housing issue in the long-term perspective.

This type of housing is made for temporary residence of the IDPs and does not involve acquisition of property. In addition, the amount of social housing is currently insignificant and cannot meet the existing demand.

At the same time, the proposed indicators have showed some positive trends in improving living conditions of the IDPs: the share of the IDPs who live in their own housing is increasing (currently pointing to 12 %); three quarters of the IDPs can afford to rent separate housing now; the quality of living conditions and the level of safety of the living environment are highly appreciated by the IDPs.

In view of the above, the following public policy measures are proposed to improve the living conditions of IDPs:

• continued raising of funds from the international donors for the construction of social housing for the IDPs;

• regular financing of the Affordable Housing Program from the state budget of Ukraine;

• expanding the opportunity for the IDPs to participate in the Affordable Housing Program due to changing the funding conditions from 50/50 to 70/30;

• launching of separate targeted programs for the acquisition of affordable housing for the IDPs.

References

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