Improving living conditions for IDPs: Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity provides additional tools to communities

The Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine has developed a resolution that will improve the accommodation conditions for internally displaced persons. On 24 December, the Government adopted a decision to compensate institutions that temporarily provide free accommodation to IDPs for their expenses. In particular, this covers the payment of utility services, as well as the purchase of liquefied gas and solid fuel.

Key changes:

• A mechanism is introduced to compensate utility services for institutions, enterprises, establishments, and organisations that temporarily accommodate internally displaced persons, even if those persons have not yet acquired IDP status;
• The period for providing temporary compensation is set at up to two months from the date of application, for the time needed to restore lost documents;
• Compensation will be calculated based on the actual number of days internally displaced persons stay in temporary accommodation places. This will allow for a more accurate calculation of the compensation amount;
• The procedure for confirming expenses is simplified – from now on, for calculating compensation, receipts and invoices will suffice, without the mandatory need to send requests to managers and providers of housing and utility services;
• The calculated social norm for housing is increased – from 13.65 sq. m to 21 sq. m of heated area per person.

The adopted changes will create a flexible mechanism to support people in crisis situations and ensure the continuity of assistance.