This year, new financial support mechanisms for internally displaced persons (IDPs) were introduced in Ukraine. The state aims to facilitate the access of displaced persons to housing, therefore, starting from January 29, 2025, the housing rental subsidy program was launched. This decision became an important step in ensuring social protection for those who lost their homes due to the war and had to adapt to new living conditions. The legal aspects of this initiative raise many questions among IDPs: who is entitled to the subsidy, what documents must be submitted, and how does it relate to other forms of state assistance?
Lawyers of the «Repeshko and Partners» Bar Association explain in detail the new rules, explain the payment calculation mechanism and analyze the possible legal nuances associated with receiving a housing subsidy by displaced persons.
The housing rental subsidy, introduced in the state on January 29, 2025, launched a new mechanism to support internally displaced persons. This assistance is intended for IDPs who have moved within the country to any region controlled by Ukraine, provided that the financial and property status of their family meets the criteria of the resolution dated October 25, 2024. No. 1225 «On the implementation of an experimental project regarding the provision of a subsidy for payment of the cost or part of the cost of hiring (renting) residential premises and compensating part of the personal income tax and military duty.»
It should be noted that the following categories of IDPs are entitled to receive a subsidy for housing rent:
- who have moved from the territories where hostilities are taking place or temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation (the list of such territories is approved by the Ministry of Reintegration), and do not have their own housing in conditionally safe regions of Ukraine with a total area of more than 13.65 square meters. meter for each family member;
- in which the residential premises, regardless of the size of the total area, have been destroyed or damaged (to the degree that they are unfit for habitation) and information about such premises has been entered into the State Register of Property Damaged and Destroyed as a result of hostilities, or in relation to such premises there is an act of commission inspection of the object and/or a technical inspection report (made in accordance with Resolution No. 473 of April 19, 2022);
- whose housing rent exceeds 20% of the total household income. Special conditions are provided for families with an income of less than 5,840 hryvnias per person: in this case, the subsidy will cover a larger percentage of the rental cost;
- do not receive housing assistance and are not participants in the «Shelter» program.
In order to receive a subsidy for housing rent, the following documents must be submitted:
- statement
- housing lease agreement (a standard agreement is concluded and signed between the landlord and the tenant at the same time as the application is submitted),
- copies of passports and RNOCPP codes;
- copies of documents confirming the authority of the legal representative (if necessary), rights to dispose of residential premises (if necessary);
- bank account details;
- certificate of IDP status;
- other documents that can confirm certain circumstances (if necessary).
It is possible to submit documents for receiving a housing rental subsidy:
- by personally contacting any service center of the Pension Fund of Ukraine;
- by personally contacting any TsNAP;
- remotely — through the web portal of electronic services of the Pension Fund of Ukraine (https://portal.pfu.gov.ua/) or the «Pension Fund» mobile application using a qualified electronic signature (KEP).
At the same time, you should know that the housing lease agreement, signed by the lessor and the lessee, is submitted by both of them.
The tenant’s household includes all persons who live with him in the rented premises and with whom he is related by family ties (husband, wife, children, stepson, stepdaughter, adopted children, children raised by foster parents in family-type children’s homes, adopted children, children under guardianship or guardianship, children studying full-time or dual education in institutions of general secondary, professional, higher education (in particular, those studying online) until they reach the age of 23 and do not have their own families; persons recognized as persons with disabilities since childhood; persons recognized as persons with disabilities since childhood or persons with disabilities of group I who live with their parents; disabled parents of a husband/wife who live with them and are dependent on them due to the lack of their own income; a person who lives with and takes care of a single person with a disability of group I; a woman and a man who are not married, but live in the same family, and/or persons who established the fact of living in the same family in court) or not related by family ties (a minor child who is not part of the employer’s family). A household may consist of one tenant.
However, the tenant’s household does not include: a person who is fully dependent on the state; a person who, during the period of allocation of housing rental subsidy, is studying full-time for more than three months in an institution of general secondary or professional (vocational-technical), or professional pre-higher or higher education and lives in a dormitory; a person who does not live with the employer and is not related to him by common life, which is confirmed by the presence of relevant information about the declared (registered) place of residence of the employer and/or the members of the employer’s household in the departmental information system of the State Migration Service (in the absence of such information in the information system of the State Migration Service, the address of the declared (registered) place of residence (stay) can be documented), or is abroad, is missing, deported outside Ukraine, is in captivity, is in military service for more than 30 days in a row on the 1st of the month from which the housing rental subsidy is assigned.
According to regulatory documents, the plague subsidy for housing rent will be calculated individually for each family, taking into account: the income of all members, the number of family members and the cost of housing rent in the region. Families with an income lower than 2 subsistence minimums (currently up to UAH 5,840) per person can count on a larger subsidy. At the same time, regardless of the number of persons in the tenant’s household, the total area of the dwelling cannot exceed 130 square meters. meters for apartments and 230 square meters. meters for individual houses.
It is important to remember that the housing rental subsidy is assigned for six months, but no more than two six-month periods in a row before the end of the experimental project implementation period.
The subsidy application will be considered within 10 working days. In the case of a positive decision to grant a subsidy, the funds will be transferred to a current account in an authorized bank.
The peculiarity of the legal innovation is that the state will compensate landlords for part of the taxes:
- to home owners — personal income tax and military tax;
- flat tax rate for homeowners who are FOPs.
Thus, IDPs can receive a subsidy for full or partial housing rent.
The following fact is important — the subsidy for the payment of utility bills will not in any way affect the receipt of the subsidy for housing rent — it will be possible to receive them at the same time. Therefore, IDPs have the right to receive two subsidies!
Regarding the subsidy for the payment of utility bills, it is necessary to recall the following points. The subsidy is assigned to people whose income does not allow them to pay for housing and communal services on their own.
Subsidy for the payment of utility bills can be received by:
- a person who is registered in a residential premises;
- a person who is not registered, but actually lives on the basis of a lease agreement;
- an internally displaced person who is not registered, but actually lives in a residential building without concluding a lease agreement. Relevant documents confirming residence at the actual address of the household are attached to the application;
- a minor child who was left without parental care, a disabled person; of working age, over whom guardianship has been established (at the request of the guardian).
The housing subsidy for the payment of housing and communal services is assigned from the month of application until the end of the heating season — April 30, and the subsidy for the purchase of solid fuel and liquefied gas — from the month of application until the end of the calendar year, December 31.
It should be noted that a subsidy for the payment of communal services is not assigned if any member of the household or family member:
- During the 12 months prior to the appointment of the housing subsidy, he carried out an operation for an amount that exceeded UAH 50,000, namely:
- purchase of a land plot, apartment (house), other real estate, vehicle (mechanism), securities and other financial instruments, virtual assets, building materials, other durable goods; payment (one-time) for any works or services (except for medical, educational and housing and communal services in accordance with the social norm of housing);
- a payment that provides for the acquisition of property rights to real estate and/or vehicles (mechanisms), except for objects of inheritance and gifts;
- contributions to the authorized capital of a company, enterprise, organization;
- charitable activity (only in the form of payment of funds);
- provision of repayable/irrevocable financial assistance, loans;
- purchase of non-cash or cash foreign currency, as well as bank metals.
- Owns more than 1 dwelling (apartment or house), except for living quarters in dormitories and housing:
- which is owned by rights of common co-ownership or partial ownership;
- on which the inheritance was registered, provided that none of the residential premises owned is rented out, which is confirmed by an act of surveying the material and living conditions of the household;
- located in rural areas, urban-type settlements in the temporarily occupied territory in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, in settlements where state authorities temporarily do not exercise their powers, and in settlements on the contact line;
- unfit for habitation, which is confirmed by an act of inspection of the technical condition of the house or apartment;
- received by an orphan child, a child deprived of parental care, a person from among them at the expense of the state or local budget;
- On the 1st of the month from which the housing subsidy is assigned, has funds in a deposit bank account in the total amount of more than 100,000 hryvnias, or domestic state loan bonds in the total amount of more than 100,000 hryvnias;
- Owns a vehicle that is subject to state registration, less than five years have passed since the year of its release (except mopeds and trailers); more than one vehicle subject to state registration, the year of manufacture of which is less than 15 years old (except for mopeds and trailers). This does not include motorcycles, the value of which on the date of acquisition of ownership does not exceed four times the minimum wage established on January 1 of the year from which the subsidy is assigned, self-assembled vehicles, vehicles obtained free of charge or purchased on preferential terms through structural units for social protection of the population, vehicles purchased by parents-educators of family-type children’s homes;
- Did not have income that is taken into account when assigning a housing subsidy; received an average monthly total income less than the amount of the minimum wage; did not pay a single contribution to mandatory state social insurance for a total of three months in the period for which income is taken into account for the purpose of housing subsidy;
- According to the Unified Register of Debtors, have arrears in executive proceedings for the collection of alimony for more than three months (except for persons who are considered missing by court order or have the legal status of missing persons, persons who are alcohol or drug dependent according to a doctor’s certificate, persons suspended from work (position), persons subject to preventive measures in the form of house arrest or detention).
At the same time, the following documents must be submitted to receive a subsidy for the payment of communal services:
- Application for subsidy.
- Declaration of income and expenses, in which data on household members who live together are indicated.
- Passport, registration number of the taxpayer’s registration card.
- Certificate of IDP status.
