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 CF “Right to Protection” has analyzed the document. So, what are the main changes?
1. Abolition of Requirements on the Term of a Person’s Registration in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons
The abolition of requirements on the term of a person’s registration in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons (hereinafter – the “Information Base”) with a certain social protection authority, as a precondition to providing residence for temporary accommodation, may be viewed as one of the most important amendments to the Procedure.
According to the previous version of clause 6 of the Procedure, an internally displaced person had to apply for registration as a citizen in need of housing from the housing funds for temporary accommodation (the “Registration”) to an authorized body within the area of service of a certain social protection authority, where such person has been registered in the Information Base during a year.
Similarly, as set out in the previous version of the second paragraph of clause 1 of the Procedure, the internally displaced persons and their family members were provided with accommodation at a place of actual residence / stay within the service area of the relevant authorities where they have been registered in the Information Database during a year.
Currently, the IDPs are no longer required to be registered in the Information Base by a certain social protection authority for a period of one year in order to start the process of Registration and obtaining accommodation for temporary residence.
Are there any changes to the accommodation location rules?
No, the rules governing the place of application for Registration and the territory where the temporary accommodation is granted have not been amended.
As previously, according to clause 6 of the Procedure, the application shall be submitted “to the relevant administrative services center 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 authority where they are registered in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons.”
Similarly, the second paragraph of clause 1 of the Procedure sets out that the residence premises are provided to the internally displaced persons “at the place of actual residence / stay within the service area of the district, district in the city state administrations in Kyiv, executive bodies of city councils, in which the said persons and their family members are registered in the Unified Information Database on Internally Displaced Persons.”
In addition, under clause 2 of the Procedure on the Formation of Housing Funds for Temporary Residence of the Internally Displaced Persons, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 582 of 26.06.2019, which has not been further amended, “residence premises from the funds must comply with the sanitary and technical requirements and be located within an administrative-territorial unit (district, city, district in the city, town, village) at the place of actual residence / stay of an internally displaced person.”
Therefore, in view of the above, the territory where the temporary accommodation may be granted still remains limited and directly depends on the service area of the authorities in which the internally displaced persons are registered in the Information Base. Providing them with possibility to obtain residential premises anywhere in Ukraine, where such premises are available, will require further amendments to the legislation.
2. Extending the Term for Resolving on Registration
The term for the authorized bodies to resolve on Registration / refusal in Registration of an internally displaced person, set out in clause 18 of the Procedure, has been extended. Previously this period constituted 10 days. Now the relevant decision must be approved by the authorized body within 30 calendar days from the date the housing commission on registration of the internally displaced persons and granting residential premises to internally displaced persons for temporary accommodation (hereinafter – the “Commission”) provides its conclusion in respect of a person.
3. De-registration of the Internally Displaced Persons
Introducing the grounds for De-registration of an internally displaced person (i.e., excluding a person from the list of citizens in need of housing from the housing funds for temporary accommodation) is one of the most crucial novelties included in the Procedure.
According to clause 20 of the Procedure, the grounds for De-registration are as follows:
- application of an internally displaced person for De-registration;
- change of the place of residence by a person;
- cancellation of the certificate on registration of a person as an internally displaced person on grounds set out in part 1 of Article 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of the Internally Displaced Persons”;
- failure to receive a move-in permission (housing order), without a valid reason, within 30 calendar days, or a failure to notify, within the same term, about the valid reasons preventing them from receiving a move-in permission;
- submission of deliberately false information that formed the grounds for Registration.
Particular attention in this case should be paid to the matters of untimely obtaining the move-in permission, as well as the failure to timely notify the authorized bodies on the valid reasons preventing a person from receiving it.
According to the Procedure, the decision on De-registration must indicate its grounds and may be challenged in court.
However, the question of notification of the internally displaced person on his / her De-registration remain unclear. Unlike the provisions of clause 19 of the Procedure, which directly define the term and manner of notifying the IDPs on their Registration / refusal in Registration, the Procedure does not establish the manner and terms for notifying a person on his/her De-registration. Resolving this matter will require approval of further amendments to the Procedure.
4. Move-in Permission Obtaining Issues
Amendments to clause 30 of the Procedure providing for extension of the list of people entitled to receive the move-in permission will have a positive impact.
Previously the Procedure permitted its obtaining only by the person, to whom it was issued. However, now it may also be received by the authorized representative of an internally displaced person based on a written power of attorney certified in the manner set forth by law.
New rules introduced by clause 30 of the Procedure also establish that “when an internally displaced person or his/her authorized representative has not received a move-in permission within 30 calendar days, without a valid reason, or has not notified, within the same period of time, about the valid reasons preventing them from receiving the move-in permission, they shall be deprived of the right to obtain the property move-in permission, and the internally displaced person shall be deprived of the right to move in the premises, which shall not deprive the internally displaced person of the right to re-apply for registration.” This also forms grounds for holding a meeting of the Commission in order to resolve on allocation the relevant premises to other internally displaced persons.
According to the Procedure, reasons that do not depend on the will of the internally displaced person or his/her authorized representative are considered valid.
5. Priority Criteria for the Allocation of Premises to the IDPs
The priority of providing housing to internally displaced persons is determined based on the number of points scored by the relevant person / family, in accordance with the scoring system established by the Procedure.
As previously established, the points are accrued according to the criteria stipulated by the Procedure. They include (i) the priority criteria, according to which the points are scored to a family with the highest indicator (e.g., families with two children – 26 points; families with one child – 25 points; families including expectant mothers – 24 points), and (ii) general criteria, according to which the points are scored in case there are relevant grounds (e.g., 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).
However, the amendments to clause 25 of the Procedure stipulate that 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.
Thus, it is necessary to note that additionally establishing various general criteria by some of the authorized bodies may potentially result in the loss of equality in treating the internally displaced persons in Ukraine and providing more favorable treatment to certain categories of IDPs.
6. Extension of Term of the Premises Use
As previously, clause 32 of the Procedure sets out that the residential premises are provided to the internally displaced persons in temporary use for the period of up to one year, which may be extended for the next period in case their status does not change and unless they acquire another place of residence.
For this purpose, a person must file an application (the name of the application was changed to the “application for extension of the term of granting the residential premises from the housing funds for the temporary accommodation of the internally displaced persons”), together with the documents set out in clause 8 of the Procedure, with the authorized body.
The deadline for submitting the application has been changed. Currently, it must be submitted to the authorized body not later than 60 calendar days prior to the expiration of the premises use agreement (previously it had to be filed not later than 30 calendar days prior to the agreement expiration date).
The Commission must consider the application not later than 50 calendar days prior to the expiration of the premises use agreement and notify the applicant in writing on its conclusion. The authorized body will resolve on extension of the term of granting premises for the temporary accommodation, based on the Commission’s conclusion, not later than the expiration date of the relevant agreement (the restriction “within two working days from the date of receipt of the conclusion of the commission” was excluded from the Procedure).
7. New Grounds for the Pre-Term Termination of the Agreement on Granting Residential Premises
The list of grounds for the Commission to resolve on the pre-term termination of granting the premises to IDPs for temporary accommodation, set out in clause 45 of the Procedure, was extended and now includes the following:
– in case an IDPdoes not reside in the premisescontinuously for more than a half of the term for which the premises use agreement was made. This fact shall be evidenced by the information provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, National Police, as well from other executive bodies, on the return of the relevant person to the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, other communities where the state authorities of Ukraine do not temporarily exercise their powers, or relocation of the person abroad.
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.
