Minregion and the EIB agree on next steps in cooperation

Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons Vitalii Bezghin held a productive meeting with European Investment Bank Vice-President Karl Nehammer. Deputy Ministers Artem Husak and Nataliia Kozlovska also attended.

The EIB has consistently supported Ukraine’s recovery: since 2022, the bank’s total support has exceeded EUR 4.5 billion. One of the key new joint projects is the construction of social housing. EUR 100 million has been allocated: EUR 50 million in an EIB loan and EUR 50 million in a European Union grant. The funds will provide homes, including for internally displaced persons. In the first stage, such housing is planned in 2-3 communities selected from those previously recommended for the pilot: Lviv, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv, Kremenchuk and Kropyvnytskyi. The agreement has already been signed and is undergoing ratification, which Minregion expects to complete soon.

“For us, this project is the start of a new social housing system. People will gain access to housing at affordable rents, while communities will receive an effective tool to address their residents’ housing needs. The law on the principles of housing policy has already laid the foundation. Together with the EIB and European Commission, we are now finalising a social housing bill that will determine how the system works. The pilot will show it in action, and then we will extend the model to other communities,” Vitalii Bezghin stressed.

The parties also discussed the energy efficiency of public buildings: modernisation is already under way in 19 communities. As community demand exceeds available resources, they discussed expanding the loan and adding new project components.

The parties also agreed on the next steps:

▪️ prepare specific social housing construction projects in the pilot cities to present them at the next Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC);

▪️ work together to sign loan and grant agreements this year for energy-efficient repairs to damaged apartment buildings (the EUR 120 million DAKH programme);

▪️ jointly prepare technically to implement all current projects in Minregion’s policy areas from the start of 2027, and consider additional technical support for preparing and implementing projects, including at community level. They are interested in GROUND, JASPERS and PPF First, UMITAF instruments that will help both the Ministry and communities better prepare and implement investment projects.

Minregion also proposed separately exploring social housing for small communities so that housing provision is combined with job creation.

We thank the European Investment Bank team for its partnership and continue moving forward together.