Leasing state property for charity: 2 shelters for displaced people built by the Ukraine Recocery Fund (URF) on the basis of SPFU facilities
By 2023, over 5 million people are internally displaced in Ukraine, the majority of whom are in need of housing because they have lost their homes. It is crucial that every individual has a place to live. The Ukraine Recocery Fund (URF) provides a notable instance of a fruitful collaboration between the state and the public. The URF has established a network of shelters utilizing state assets.
Andrii Shramko, Director of the Lease Department of the SPFU, highlights that the State Property Fund is currently the largest landlord in Ukraine. It manages real estate covering a total area of 7.8 million square meters and supports over 14,000 contracts. Consequently, there is a wide range of properties available, including some that are ideal for charitable purposes such as establishing temporary housing facilities.
The Ukraine Recovery Fund has cooperated effectively with the State Property Fund and has leased two facilities. One is in Kropyvnytskyi, where design work is in progress and repairs will commence shortly. The other is in Dnipro, where, in conjunction with the Save Ukraine Fund, repairs have been completed and all communications have been replaced. This shelter can accommodate 50 individuals on a 700 m² area equipped with a room for children and adult learning and entertainment. The Ukraine Recovery Fund intends to sign an additional lease agreement for state property in Dnipro where renovations will commence shortly.
The URF provides housing for short-term and long-term (5 years) and helps internally displaced persons socialize. It has already managed to find accommodation for 2,500 people in Dnipro, and the charity's team is currently working on expanding its shelters in the Dnipro region. Accommodation in the shelters is free of charge, but residents pay the cost of utilities (in summer - 300-400 UAH per room, in winter the cost increases slightly, but the price of utilities is lower because it is not commercial). Within the framework of the Mriiaty project, the Ukraine Recovery Fund helps children and adults, and volunteers organize educational classes for children. The primary objective of all of the charity's experts is to concentrate on psychological and social recovery of people.
"When the war started, my wife, my friend and I set up the URF. In the first week of the war, we started helping people, delivering things, finding shelter for people from Mariupol, and later we opened a small humanitarian headquarters. Initially, we established provisional shelters and then began to assist existing centers. However, we eventually recognized the necessity of renting our own facilities from the government due to its reliability." "We discovered appropriate facilities within SPFU's investment portfolio, participated in the bidding process, won, and are now paying a transparent, competitive price," Illia Odyntsov noted.