On December 23, 2020, the Government amended the Procedure for Provision of Temporary Use of Housing from Housing Funds for Temporary Accommodation of Internally Displaced Persons, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 582 of June 26, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Procedure). Changes came into force on December 30, 2020.
The team of the Right to Protection CF analyzed the document. So, what was changed?
1. Abolition of requirements for the period of a person’s registration in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons (hereinafter – the “Information Base”) can be considered one of the most important changes in the Procedure.
In accordance to the requirements of the previous version of paragraph 6 of the Procedure, the internally displaced person had to apply for registration as a citizen in need of housing from the temporary housing funds.
Similarly, the previous version of the second paragraph of item 1 of the Procedure included the possibility to provide internally displaced persons and their family members with accommodation at the place of actual residence / stay within the service area of the relevant authorities where they were registered in the Information Database.
Currently, internally displaced persons can initiate the process of registration and obtaining accommodation for temporary residence without waiting for a year of registration.
Have the conditions for the housing location been changed?
No, the conditions regarding the place of application for registration and the territory of housing provided have not been changed.
As before, according to paragraph 6 of the Procedure, the application is submitted “to the relevant center for administrative services or the relevant local self-government body, and in their absence – to the relevant civil-military administration (hereinafter – the authorized bodies) within the service area of the social protection body where they are registered in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons “.
Similarly, the second paragraph of the Procedure still includes the notion that housing for internally displaced persons is provided “at the place of actual residence / stay within the service area of district, district state administrations in Kyiv, executive bodies of city councils, in which these persons and their family members are registered in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons.”
In addition, according to paragraph 2 of the Procedure on the formation of housing funds for temporary residence of internally displaced persons (approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 582 of 26.06.2019 and was not amended in the future) “housing from the funds must comply with sanitary and technical requirements and be located within one administrative-territorial unit (district, city, district in the city, town, village) at the place of actual residence / stay of an internally displaced person.”
Therefore, based on the above provisions of the Procedure, the territory of temporary accommodation for internally displaced persons still remains limited and directly depends on the territory of service of the bodies in which they are registered in the Information Base. Opportunity to receive housing in any place/settlement in Ukraine will require additional further amendments to the legislation.
2. Increasing the term for making a decision on registration of internally displaced persons
The term of decision-making on registration / refusal of registration of an internally displaced person by the authorized bodies has been extended by item 18 of the Procedure. If earlier this period was 10 days, now the relevant decision is made by the authorized body within 30 calendar days from the date of submission of the conclusion of the housing commission on registration of internally displaced persons and provision of housing for temporary residence to internally displaced persons (hereinafter – the “Commission”).
3. Removal from the Registry of Internally Displaced Persons.
One of the most important innovations of the updated Procedure is that a person can request to be removed from the IDP database if certain grounds are met.
According to paragraph 20 of the Procedure, the grounds for removal of an internally displaced person from the Register are:
- application of an internally displaced person for deregistration;
- change of residence by a person;
- cancellation of the certificate of registration of an internally displaced person if there are grounds provided for in part one of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Internally Displaced Persons”;
- failure to receive an move-in permission (to be allowed to reside in new housing) within 30 calendar days;
- submission of knowingly unreliable information that became the basis for registration of an internally displaced person.
Particular attention in this case should be paid to the move-in permission and an application for deregistration.
According to the Procedure, the decision on deregistration must contain grounds for this and may be appealed in court.
At the same time, the issue of notifying an internally displaced person of his / her deregistration remains unresolved. Unlike the provisions of paragraph 19 of the Procedure, which clearly define the term and method of notifying a person on the final decision to register / refuse to register, the Procedure does not establish the method and terms for notifying a person of his/her deregistration. The settlement of this issue will require further amendments to the Procedure.
4. The issue on obtaining move-in permission.
Amendments to paragraph 30 of the Procedure regarding the expansion of the circle of persons who may be given housing move-in permission will have a positive impact.
Earlier the Procedure was available only to the displaced persons (for whom it was initially issued). Now the move-in permission can also be handed over to the authorized representative of the internally displaced persons on the basis of a written power of certified attorney.
On the other hand, the new provisions introduced in paragraph 30 of the Procedure: “when an internally displaced person or his/her authorized representative has not received a move-in permission within 30 calendar days without good reason or has not been notified within the same period of time means that they are deprived of the right to obtain a property move-in permission. This does not deprive internally displaced person of the right to re-apply for registration.”
This then becomes the basis for gathering of the Commission on the provision of appropriate housing to other internally displaced persons.
According to the Procedure, reasons that do not depend on the will of the internally displaced person or the authorized representative are considered good / valid.
5. Criteria for prioritizing the provision of housing to internally displaced persons.
The priority of providing housing to internally displaced persons is determined by the number of points scored by the person / family, in accordance with the scoring system established by the Procedure.
As before, points are accrued according to the criteria stipulated by the Procedure, which are divided into priority, according to which family with the highest indicator has more chance to receive housing (for example, families with two children – 26 points; families with one child – 25 points; large families – 2 points per family; families with incapable persons – 2 points per family, persons authorized to perform the functions of the state or local self-government from among the internally displaced persons – 3 points per person).
At the same time, the amendments to paragraph 25 of the Procedure stipulate that the decision of the authorized body may approve a list of additional general criteria, the total number of points for which may not exceed 20 points per family.
It should be noted that the establishment by individual authorities of various additional general criteria could potentially lead to a lack of equality in the treatment of internally displaced persons in the country and the preference of some categories of persons over others.
6. Extension of the maximum period of the property usage
As before, according to paragraph 32 of the Procedure, housing is provided to internally displaced persons for temporary use for up to one year with the possibility of extension for the next period in the absence of changes in their status and if they have not acquired another place of residence.
To do this, the internally displaced person must apply to the authorized body with a statement (the name of the statement was changed to “application for extension of a usage period of housing from the housing fund for temporary residence of internally displaced persons”), which is accompanied by documents under paragraph 8 of the Procedure.
The application deadline has been changed. Now the internally displaced person must submit such an application to the authorized body no later than 60 calendar days before the expiration of the contract for the use of housing (previously it was submitted no later than 30 calendar days before the expiration of the contract).
The Commission is obliged to consider such an application not later than 50 calendar days before the expiration of the contract and notify the applicant in writing of the conclusion made by it. The authorized body makes a final decision (on the basis of the decision of Commission) no later than the expiration of the contract (restriction “within two working days from the date of receipt of the conclusion of the commission” was excluded from the final draft).
7. Expansion of the list of grounds for early termination of the contract for the provision of housing
The list of grounds for the Commission’s decision to terminate the provision of housing for temporary residence of IDPs established by paragraph 45 of the Procedure was expanded and supplemented with the following grounds:
“ – non-residence of IDPs in an apartment continuously for more than half of the term of the contract. Fact of non-residence is confirmed by the information received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Border Service Administration, the National Police, as well from the other executive bodies.”
Earlier we told that our colleagues from the Severodonetsk office participated in the Work meeting on the amendments to the resolution on housing for IDPs.