Pilot social housing project for Mariupol residents under YaMariupol Housing project to open in Dnipro in April

KYIV. April 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The implementation of a social housing project for Mariupol residents, called YaMariupol Housing, has begun, its first stage, a reconstructed hostel in Dnipro, will be opened in April 2024, Chief Reputation Officer at System Capital Management Natalya Yemchenko has said.

As she reported on Facebook, the goal of the YaMariupol Housing project is to provide the most vulnerable families from Mariupol with temporary social housing.

“In total, in 2023 and 2024, it will about a minimum of 1,220 apartments/rooms – these are those for which the city has already received applications and which are already in fact waiting for it in line. The format of this housing is family dormitories, which are created through the complete modernization of existing empty dormitories of the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports,” Yemchenko said.

Modernization and reconstruction of these dormitories takes place taking into account thermal modernization, barrier-free requirements and the needs of future residents. She gave an example: the hostel is equipped with a co-working space, a children’s room, and on each floor there are large common living rooms where one can play, study, read, and watch movies together.

“The first, pilot hostel is already ready to open in Dnipro. 35 apartments, 127 people, almost half of them are children. In April, 35 families will receive the keys to these new premises, and we really hope that they will be happy here. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is a partner of this pilot project. We took care of the provision of common areas (kitchen appliances, computers for co-working, toys for children’s rooms, furniture for the hall). Since we are very pleased with the results of the pilot project, we will discuss a possible partnership on the next phases of this project with the Mariupol City Council,” Yemchenko wrote.

The pilot project was implemented with the support of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Donetsk Military Regional Administration, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and a number of international and Ukrainian partners (including DTEK Group).

She said that by the end of 2024, there are three phases of the YaMariupol Housing project, with a total of 1,220 rooms/apartments for about 4,000 most vulnerable Mariupol residents.

Already in the autumn of 2023, the dormitories of the Ukrainian State University of Science and Technology (four floors, 5,200 square meters, 216 rooms) and the Dnipro National University (nine floors, 7,000 square meters, 117 rooms) will be reconstructed in Dnipro.

The main partner in the reconstruction of these hostels first is the French government and the International Organization for Migration.

“Funding has already been confirmed, we will make a big announcement in April,” Yemchenko said.

The second stage is Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk. In Chernivtsi, the hostel building of the National University (three floors, 65 rooms) and the Starozhynets Forest College (five floors, 38 apartments) will be reconstructed. In Ivano-Frankivsk, the building of the Dniester Basin Department of Water Resources (four floors, 35 apartments) will be converted into temporary housing for IDPs. The implementation period is autumn 2023 – winter 2024. Altogether, this will provide housing for more than 500 people. Partners in financing the reconstruction of the second stage are the French government, the International Organization for Migration and USAID.

“The third stage is under negotiation – Zaporizhia, Kropyvnytsky, and Lviv. Most likely it will be spring 2024. 383 families, 1,220 people. The preliminary partners for financing the reconstruction of the third stage are the European Investment Bank and the State Regional Development Fund,” Yemchenko said.