Due to Russia’s criminal aggression against our country, a significant number of Ukrainian citizens were forced to leave their cities and homes, fleeing from danger. According to the legislation, such citizens are internally displaced persons (IDPs). During the analysis of cases of violations of the rights of clients of the REAct project who were in this state, it turned out that clients from the communities of PLHIV, PLTB, PWID, and OST patients, faced a violation of their rights and the emergence of a number of problematic issues. Above all, these were issues of housing, medical and social assistance, as well as access to employment and education.
One of the key needs that IDPs typically face is the need for housing. Without the provision of safe housing, the possibility of realizing rights to access treatment, social assistance, employment, and other legitimate needs is quite narrow in practice. Unfortunately, a significant factor in the negative impact on the observance of the rights of representatives of key communities, who were forced to move to safer areas, often turns out to be discriminatory attitudes. Thus, clients of the Project often complain that housing is either not provided to them at all, or is provided only on a residual basis.
Let’s start the analysis with the existing requirements of the legislation on providing IDPs with housing, which you need to know in order to be able to defend your rights.
The main one after the Constitution will be the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons” dated October 20, 2014 No. 1706-VII, which establishes equal guarantees for all internally displaced persons to respect the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests, including on:
- creation of appropriate conditions for permanent or temporary residence;creation of appropriate conditions for permanent or temporary residence;
- payment of the cost of communal services, electricity, thermal energy, and natural gas in places of compact settlement of internally displaced persons (dormitories, health camps, rest houses, sanatoriums, boarding houses, hotels, etc.) at the appropriate tariffs established for such services and goods for the population;
- provision by state executive authorities, local self-government bodies, and private law subjects of the possibility of free temporary residence (on the condition that the person pays the cost of communal services) within 6 months from the moment an internally displaced person is registered (for large families, persons with disabilities, elderly person age, this term can be additionally extended).
Local state administrations, within the limits of their powers, are obliged to ensure:
- registration of an internally displaced person in accordance with the procedure established by the Law;
- providing information to internally displaced persons about possible places and conditions for their temporary residence/stay, taking into account the proposals of local self-government bodies, public associations, volunteers, charitable organizations, other legal entities, and individuals, about the state of infrastructure, the environment in such places;
- provision of temporary use of residential premises or social housing, suitable for living, to internally displaced persons, subject to payment by the specified persons in accordance with the legislation of the cost of housing and communal services.
Let us analyze such a document as “The procedure for the formation of housing funds intended for temporary residence, accounting and provision of such housing for the temporary residence of internally displaced persons”, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “Some measures for the formation of housing funds intended for the temporary residence of internally displaced persons” dated April 29, 2022 No. 495.
According to it, an internally displaced person and his family members are provided free of charge housing from the fund at the place of actual residence within the territory of the relevant authorized bodies. At the same time, the need for residential premises from the fund is determined in the amount of at least 6 square meters. meters per person.
Residential premises from the fund should be provided taking into account the needs of different social groups in order to ensure equal rights and opportunities for women and men. Families with many children have the primary right to provide housing from the fund; families with children; pregnant women; persons who have lost their ability to work; persons of retirement age from among those whose housing was destroyed or became uninhabitable as a result of Russia’s armed aggression.
In order to register citizens who need housing for temporary residence, IDPs must submit an application to the authorized body within the territory of which they are registered in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons.
The following shall be attached to such a statement:
- copies of documents certifying identity and confirming Ukrainian citizenship.
- a copy of the certificate of the internally displaced person on registration in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons and copies of the relevant certificates of family members (if available);
- copies of documents issued by the civil registration authorities or the court confirming the family relationship of the applicant and all members of his family (birth certificate, marriage certificate, certificate of guardian or custodian, etc.);
- a copy of the registration number of the taxpayer’s registration card (not provided by natural persons who, due to their religious beliefs, refuse to accept the registration number of the taxpayer’s registration card, have notified the relevant territorial body of the SFS and have a mark in the passport of a citizen of Ukraine);
- copies of documents confirming the grounds for priority in providing internally displaced persons with residential premises from the fund. The fact of destruction or damage to housing, which led to the impossibility of its intended use, is confirmed by a personal statement of the applicant and his family members.
The person who submitted an application for registration of citizens in need of housing for temporary residence must be issued by the authorized body carrying out the registration, a description of the received documents, information about the date of submission and registration of the application, registration number of the application and a list of documents is indicated, attached to the application, signed by the official who accepted them.
The decision to include an internally displaced person in the register of citizens who need housing for temporary residence must be made within 1 working day after submitting the application.