Ukraine and Japan strengthen cooperation in housing policy

Ukraine and Japan prolong joint work on developing housing policy and preparing practical solutions for communities. This was discussed on World Habitat Day with a delegation from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The meeting was the next step in work that began during the Ukrainian delegation's visit to Tokyo.

"Ukraine is shaping a new housing policy, and it is important for us to work on new rules and their practical application at the same time. This concerns the development of social housing, the restoration of the housing stock and support for communities in rebuilding. Japan has considerable experience in these areas, and that is why we are interested in JICA's support, from preparing regulatory decisions to implementing specific projects in communities," said Deputy Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine Nataliia Kozlovska.

The discussion concerned a JICA technical assistance project prepared at the request of the Ministry. It covers both work on the new housing policy and the preparation of pilot social housing projects in communities.

The Japanese side expressed readiness to support the implementation of specific projects. At this stage, six promising pilot communities have been identified, including in Lviv and Kyiv regions. JICA will assess their needs, capacity and readiness to implement and manage social housing projects at the local level. Based on the results of the assessment, next steps for implementing the pilots and approach to their financing will be determined.

Building a coalition of partners in the field of social housing is a separate important topic. It involves bringing together the state, communities and international partners around specific social housing projects, so that communities that have a need and stand ready to carry out such projects can receive the necessary financial, technical and expert support. The Ministry expects Japan and other partners to join this work.

The sides also discussed approaches to selecting communities for support of pilot social housing projects. In particular, they reviewed Ukraine's experience of cooperation with the European Investment Bank, in which communities submit their proposals to an open competition to take part in projects. This approach makes it possible to comprehensively assess communities' needs and capacity and to identify the projects that are most ready for implementation.

Further cooperation with JICA will combine work on housing policy with the practical implementation of pilot projects. This will make it possible to test new approaches directly in communities and use the experience gained for further scaling up.