Shulyak outlined the key priorities for housing sector recovery in 2025.

Last year, the parliament was able to establish a legislative foundation for reforming housing policy, which will serve as the basis for the reconstruction of Ukraine, as well as achieve significant changes in the operation of the compensation program for destroyed and damaged housing, "eVідновлення".

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing a comment from the chair of the committee on state governance, local self-government, regional development, and urban planning, Elena Shulyak.

However, further expansion of the program and the adoption of the aforementioned bills are expected to take place in 2025.

According to her, in 2024, parliament began a series of legislative activities aimed at reforming housing policy and the reconstruction of Ukraine. This includes the bills "On the Basic Principles of Housing Policy" and "On the Basic Principles of Reconstruction." However, they were not registered in the current year.

"Both bills are extremely important for Ukraine right now. Firstly, the reform of the housing sector, as it has been governed by the rules of the Soviet Union for decades and has long failed to address the housing issues of Ukrainians. Secondly, the reconstruction of Ukraine. For it to occur effectively, a law is needed that will take into account all the challenges of efficient recovery. These two documents underwent extensive public consultations, during which we managed to gather constructive feedback from the public and experts on how they should be refined. However, the documents got stalled at the registration stage," Shulyak stated.

She added that significant changes also occurred last year with the "eVідновлення" program. In particular, the bill No. 11440 was adopted regarding the mechanism for registering property rights without access to the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI), if the property was not included in the State Register of Property Rights (GRVP). This bill significantly simplifies access to the "eVідновлення" program in cases where not only the housing was lost but also the paper documents, and the BTI was destroyed or is under occupation.

Additionally, the parliament supported bill No. 11028, which will provide more fairness for internally displaced persons (IDPs). It provides a priority right to receive compensation for destroyed real estate under the "eVідновлення" program for certain categories of IDPs. Furthermore, the "eVідновлення" program has been enhanced with opportunities from the preferential mortgage program "eOselya" - the certificate from the compensation program can now be used as a down payment for a mortgage in the "eOselya" program.

"All of this has had a very positive impact on the effectiveness and performance of "eVідновлення". As of the end of 2024, nearly 80,000 families received compensation for repairs to their homes, totaling about 8.5 billion UAH. Approximately 13,000 certificates for the purchase of new homes were issued, of which 5,000 were realized for 9 billion UAH. Of course, we dreamed that the program would reach at least 1 million Ukrainians within a year, but funding has slowed down. I believe it will not last long," Elena Shulyak is convinced.

However, according to her, the program was not expanded last year for citizens whose destroyed housing is located on the front line - a decision on this matter is still awaited from the government.

Among other tasks that have carried over to 2025 are changes to the "eOselya" program. Last year, the provision was canceled that required IDPs wishing to acquire housing with its help to select real estate no older than 3 years. This significantly limited the options for such citizens since, for example, new housing is not frequently built in the regions. Therefore, the age limit for housing has been removed - now displaced persons can purchase homes up to 10 years old.

However, this year further changes to the program conditions need to be implemented. In particular, the down payment for IDPs needs to be reduced from 20% to 15%, as well as the interest rate from 7% to 3%.

"Throughout last year, we knocked on all doors to attract attention and change the program conditions so that it finally became genuinely accessible for IDP citizens who are in dire need of their own housing. Although the government made certain changes, they are largely symbolic and do not fundamentally address the housing problem of the displaced," Elena Shulyak reported.

The MP also emphasized that among the plans for this year is to register and at least pass through the first reading the bills "On the Basic Principles of Housing Policy" and "On the Basic Principles of Reconstruction." The first was expected to be registered last summer, but that did not happen. The bill "On the Foundations of Reconstruction" also remains at the stage of public discussion.

"The Accounting Chamber notes in its report in December 2024 that the important bill for reconstruction has not yet been submitted for government consideration. Additionally, the information ecosystem DREAM for reconstruction, despite constant recommendations from partners, has not yet become a mandatory system for transparent and accountable recovery. Therefore, this is a task for us in 2025," Shulyak concluded.