Only 196 out of 50,000 orphans on waitlist receive state housing over past 2 years

More than 49,000 orphans, children deprived of parental care and people from among these groups are on a state housing waiting list in Ukraine. Of them, 41,000 are aged 18 to 35 and have been waiting for housing for years. In 2024 and 2025, only 196 orphans received housing, lawmaker Pavlo Sushko reported during a meeting of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Temporary Investigative Commission on investigating violations of children’s rights.

Screenshot of a video shown during the commission’s meeting

According to the State Service for Children’s Affairs, as of 31 December 31, 2025, more than 49,000 orphans, children deprived of parental care and people from among these groups were on the housing waiting list in Ukraine. Of them, 41,000 were adults aged 18 to 35. The largest numbers of these young people live in the Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Kirovohrad Regions (Oblasts).

Over the two years from 2024 to 2025, regional and local programs provided housing to only 196 people. In 2025, 16 of Ukraine’s 25 oblasts did not provide housing to a single person.

Social dormitories for orphans and children deprived of parental care exist in only 18 regions. They currently accommodate just 225 people, said Pavlo Sushko, head of the parliamentary commission.

“Since 2022, the state subsidy for purchasing housing for orphans and children deprived of parental care has not been provided at all. Local governments are trying to resolve the situation on their own by providing municipally owned housing,” he said.

Sushko noted that media reports increasingly show that such housing is unfit for living in. At the same time, an orphan is removed from the housing waiting list, while the person effectively remains without housing.

One such case occurred in Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast. The commission was shown a video filmed inside a house that an adult orphan had received from the local authorities. The footage showed that the property required major repairs and was dilapidated. The walls were cracked, and the roof was damaged. There was no electricity or water supply in the house. At the same time, the commission’s report stated that the house was fit to live in.

Screenshot of a video shown during the commission’s meeting

The young woman was removed from the housing waiting list because she was considered to have been provided with housing. She later appealed to the local authorities to allocate her 100,000 hryvnias under a local program for repair work. The city council will consider the issue at a session in October 2026.

Kyrylo Nevdokha, head of the DIyMO Office of Children and Youth, who grew up in an institutional care facility, noted in a post that the problem of providing housing for orphans remains acute.

“The housing situation is very bleak. There was a state subsidy for purchasing housing, and the process at least began moving forward. Then came 2022, and that was it. Now there is a subsidy, but in practice it is for purchasing housing for family-type children’s homes, while hromadasі themselves are not very willing to get involved in providing housing for orphans, children deprived of parental care and people from among these groups. Only a few do so,” he wrote.

He noted that the community of people with experience of growing up without parental care, many of whom have spent years on the housing waiting list, understands that the situation could become even more difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to seek various long-term solutions for where this group of young people can live after leaving the dormitories.

You may also want to read: Internally displaced people, citizen with disabilities and older adults living alone most likely to become homeless in Ukraine – study

On 4 August 2026, the president signed Bill No. 7087 on the division of powers between government authorities. Under the law, executive committees of local councils are responsible for protecting children’s rights, including their housing and property rights, resolving disputes between parents and establishing children’s affairs services.

The Law “On the Basic Principles of Housing Policy” repealed the 1983 Housing Code and introduced new rules in the housing sector. The right to free housing from the state will remain only for military personnel, emergency responders, police officers and orphans.

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