Over €350 million for housing programs: what will change for IDPs, veterans, and owners of destroyed housing

The Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine reported that, during the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2026) in Gdańsk, several agreements were reached in the housing sector, with a total value of €351 million.

The funding will support housing restoration, the development of social housing solutions, and assistance for citizens who have lost their homes as a result of the war.

€100 million for municipal social rental housing

One of the key outcomes was the signing of a €100 million agreement with the European Investment Bank to launch a pilot project for municipal social rental housing.

The funding package includes €50 million in EIB loan financing and €50 million in grant support from the European Union. The funds will be used to establish a municipal housing stock, enabling communities to provide affordable rental housing.

The project provides for the construction of housing that will remain in community ownership and be rented out at below-market rates.

Priority tenants for such housing will include:

• internally displaced persons;
• veterans;
• families of fallen defenders of Ukraine;
• teachers;
• doctors;
• critical infrastructure workers.

The selection of communities for the pilot phase of the project is currently underway. Following several stages of evaluation, five communities were recommended out of 25 applicants:

• Lviv;
• Zhytomyr;
• Mykolaiv;
• Kremenchuk;
• Kropyvnytskyi.

The €100 million secured represents the first phase of the initiative, which forms part of a broader €400 million funding package for the development of a municipal social housing system.

Another €100 million for the “eRecovery” program

Ukraine also secured €100 million from the Council of Europe Development Bank to continue the eRecovery programme.

The funds will be used to pay compensation for destroyed housing in the form of housing certificates, which allow recipients to purchase new homes to replace those lost as a result of the war.

The new agreement continues the HOME project — Compensation for Destroyed Residential Properties — which provides for €50 million in financing from the Council of Europe Development Bank and a further €50 million from the Italian government in 2026.

According to the Ministry, under two previous loan agreements totalling €200 million, UAH 9.35 billion was allocated to the programme in 2024–2025. As a result, more than 6,100 families purchased new housing, and more than 15,700 Ukrainians were able to return to their own homes.

A grant of over €11 million for the development of the compensation system

A separate €11.075 million grant agreement was signed with the Council of Europe Development Bank to implement the technical assistance project “HOME Capacity Building: Compensation for Destroyed Housing in Ukraine.”

The funding will be used to strengthen the capacity of state and local authorities to implement the compensation mechanism for housing destroyed as a result of Russian aggression, as well as to improve the efficiency of international financial assistance.

Of the total amount, €10 million is an EU grant under the Ukraine Facility, while €1.075 million is an operational grant from the Council of Europe Development Bank’s Solidarity Fund with Ukraine.

The project provides for two areas of support:

• strengthening the work of local commissions responsible for deciding on compensation, including by improving procedures, providing expert support, and launching a hotline;
• developing a compensation mechanism for the construction of individual houses on privately owned land plots, including the preparation of standard designs and the provision of technical and advisory support to communities and citizens.

This is expected to reduce the time required to review applications and improve the quality of compensation provision.

Support for IDPs from temporarily occupied territories

A separate area of support concerns internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories.

Under the “eRecovery: Housing for IDPs from Temporarily Occupied Territories” programme, housing vouchers will be provided, at the first stage, to internally displaced persons who have the status of combatants or persons with disabilities as a result of the war.

The signed statement opens up the possibility of securing additional funding, which would allow around 2,000 housing vouchers to be financed over two years.

Recently, the Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank approved an €80 million loan for Ukraine to implement this programme. The funds are expected to be disbursed in two tranches: the first €40 million in September 2026, and another €40 million in 2027.

€60 million for preferential loans for veterans

Ukraine also reached an agreement with the Council of Europe Development Bank to expand the affordable housing programme for veterans.

The Bank will provide €60 million in loan financing for its implementation, enabling Ukrainian defenders to receive preferential housing loans.

The programme will be implemented by the State Fund for Youth Housing Assistance in cooperation with the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, the Ministry for Veterans Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance.

Thanks to the funds secured and the mechanism for reusing repaid loan resources, it is planned to provide more than 1,500 preferential housing loans to veterans. Of these, more than 1,100 will be financed directly with the support of the Council of Europe Development Bank, while more than 450 will be financed through the reuse of funds received from the repayment of previously issued loans.

The programme will be available to combatants and persons with Group III war-related disabilities who are not currently covered by the cash compensation mechanism under Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 719.

Loan conditions include:

• loan term up to 20 years;
• own contribution — 6% of the housing cost;
• interest rate of 3% per annum for the first 10 years;
• 7% per annum for the next 10 years.

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