● How is housing construction related to the achievement of sustainable development goals?
● What is the real demand for new housing, what are the characteristics of different needs and opportunities to access it?
● What are the losses of the land fund from the war in the East and the South and what are the consequences for the West regions? What are the peculiarities of the legislative regulation of agrarian and nature conservation territories?
● How can and should communities act to ensure sustainable land use?
● What is the idea of the regional dimension of Restoration? How to understand and plan territories with various needs and challenges?
In the first chapter, a new comprehensive assessment of the housing need is put forward. It draws from the most advanced housing needs assessment tool, developed for Australia, and now, used in Ukraine. Using IOM survey data Lawson, van den Nouwelant and Troy reveal that almost 500 000 households are in need of housing in Ukraine. These needs can be met by a national social rental housing development programme, akin to efforts after WW2 in many European countries and informed by the most advanced public and third-sector rental systems, as in Austria, Denmark and Finland. It implies a third-sector-based cost-rental housing that allows for continuous revolving funding and asset management, based on broad accessibility and affordability for low and very-low-income groups as well as middle-range earners. A model Law on Common Good Housing is proposed for Ukraine’s consideration, enabling low-profit housing associations to operate, as in Austria. This Model Law is provided in the Appendix of this report and has been developed by IIBW as Austria’s contribution towards the New European Bauhaus for Ukraine.
The second chapter deals with land – a key component of any construction and urban development. Both the challenges of protecting natural land from intensive farming and farming land from urban use are explained in detail. The current approach of land policies in the context of devolved competencies in municipalities appears to be poorly informed and leads to perpetual loss of land. The necessary tools on the local level are highlighted under the notions of facilitative and active land policy to provide new homes and regenerate existing housing districts.
The last chapter discusses the issues of recovery governance and opportunities to build on the existing economic sectors, intending to jump-start the regional and national economies. As Vlad Mykhnenko mentions, “Ukraine’s new, post-war economic geography map in ten-years time will bear little resemblance to 2021, let alone 2013” (section 3.1. of the current report). Preparing for a dramatically different economic geography requires new modes of governance. Local to regional development policies that appreciate this changing geography of Ukraine are discussed in conjunction. Planning based on local needs and interests, which takes existing landscape, practices and perceptions into account, is currently underdeveloped and needs to become institutionalised – to provide for a truly place-focused recovery.