A house, a job, and the support of specialists are needed. How to solve the refugees’ problem

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To explore the refugees’ problems and find solutions, Lviv Now organized a discussion with the participation of officials, settlers and a philanthropist.

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Currently, more than 250,000 internally displaced persons are officially registered in the Lviv region, which started to serve as the main refuge since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. More of that, officials claim that the real numbers are twice as high. 

At the same time, the number of shelters for refugees in Lviv and the region has decreased: people were evicted from gymnasiums and schools, owners started to furnish rooms in cultural centers and family dormitories. But this is not enough, and such housing is not of the best quality.

Recently, Lviv Now visited the hostel on the street Ternopilska, 8, where 400 internally displaced people live, as well as a modular town for almost the same number of people. The conditions in which these people wait for winter are quite difficult. To explore the refugees’ problems and find solutions, Lviv Now organized a discussion with the participation of officials, settlers and a philanthropist.

Return to the occupation because didn’t manage to socialize

In the summer, the support center for displaced persons «I – Mariupol» opened on the square Halytska, 15 in Lviv. Here, the people of Mariupol can receive humanitarian, informational, advisory, medical and psychological assistance. The head of this center, Yulia Hryhor, says that people come to them with a request for help with housing, but now their number is significantly fewer.

«Our center works with residents of Mariupol, all employees are from this city. Almost three thousand people, including children, are registered with us in Lviv. In general, there are six to ten thousand Mariupol residents here – our center did not cover all of them. The issue of accommodation is one of the acute ones. 90% of internally displaced persons from Mariupol are deprived of their property, including me and my colleagues. They got settled as best they could. There are those who are in the conditions offered to them by the state or local authorities, or by the volunteers. Those who have a job are looking for better housing,» – the head of the center says.

Read also: How Lviv helps refugees and the front. Interview with the Mayor

Yulia Hryhor notes that a significant support for displaced persons who can rent housing will be a reduction in the cost of the agents’ services. Usually, they take the full monthly rent as payment.

«The city council is trying to help those who live in hostels, modular houses, or dormitories. We were recently offered five dorm rooms, fully equipped, but for military families. There are requests for housing, although they are already fewer than at the beginning of the war,» – she continued.

Currently, people from Mariupol are trying to be accommodated in dormitories not only in Lviv, but also in Dnipro. However, many of them return to the occupied city.

«Some people’s homes in Mariupol have survived. There, in the occupation, water supply and heating are being restored. People, unfortunately, are forced to return to their homes in the occupied city or to their friends, because not everyone manages to integrate, get a job in a foreign city, especially older people,» – Yulia explains.

Although, according to her, the problem with work in Lviv is not acute now.

Yulia Hryhor explains that the people of Mariupol in the region are more fortunate with socialization, because they have a center where they can go and get psychological help, even talk to a recruiter about work. But the problem of housing is key for the displaced people. Therefore, she asks to consider the possibility of reducing the cost of services of the real estate agents for refugees.

There are facilities where people can be accommodated, but there is no money

The head of the economic policy department of the Lviv regional military administration, Stepan Kuybida, says that there are problems with housing in the region. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Lviv region used all its resources – schools, kindergartens, public houses. Currently, several main directions of work in this area have been identified. They are, in particular, the purchase of housing for internally displaced persons, the restoration and renovation of the existing housing stock, including university dormitories, and the construction of housing.

«Understanding that buying or building is a time-consuming process, we chose the priority way of renovating the housing we have. A target program has been developed. Currently, we are talking about 200 million hryvnias – that’s how much we plan to allocate from the regional budget,» – he says.

The city plans to renovate 29 institutions in 22 districts of the Lviv region. Lviv regional state administration (LOVA) also cooperates with 16 donor organizations for this purpose.

«We hope to create five thousand places for refugees by the end of the year. It won’t be just a small room, but equipped with beds, a bathroom of an appropriate level, a place where you can eat, where children will be comfortable,» – says Stepan Kuybida.

He adds that such a number of places for settlement seems like a lot, but in the region, there are officially registered 251 thousand people from regions that are constantly shelled by Russia, among them 75 thousand are children.

Read also: «The one who goes will pass the road.» This is how refugees seek jobs in the Lviv region

«I would multiply this figure by two, because we do not know what is happening in the private sector. There is a colossal social burden on our infrastructure. We are preparing for the fact that people may still arrive in the region, so we are trying to convert every suitable place for the needs of the internally displaced.

There are not enough forces and means. For example, we invest 200 million. This is almost the largest amount among all regions that deal with the shelter of internally displaced persons. But for this, at least three billion hryvnias are needed,» – he believes.

In the Lviv region, it is possible to renovate almost 200 institutions to house another 20,000 people. Three billion hryvnias, according to LOVA’s calculations, is too much for the regional budget. However, it can still be found after some time, Stepan Kuybida assures: «In the next two weeks, we will count the entire financial resource down to the last coin. That way, it will be easier to cooperate with donors, to get along with them.»

Stepan Kuybida claims that 251,000 refugees are currently registered in the region, and the regional administration is calculating its needs and opportunities for housing of displaced persons. The Lviv region recruits and trains specialists who could work with internally displaced persons, provide psychological assistance and support them in socialization.

Ihor Kobryn, head of the social protection department in the Lviv City Council, says that 110,000 internally displaced persons officially live in the Lviv territorial community, but in fact, there may be twice as many of them.

«The issue of refuge is acute. In March and April, we operated with almost 500 objects – schools, kindergartens, and religious objects. Now, there are only 50,» – he explains.

According to Ihor Kobryn, the city has a strategy for housing that has already been implemented by less than 50 per cent:

«About 20 objects were selected, in which it’s possible to carry out either repairs or reconstruction and to house people. A little less than half of them are completed, people already live there. Modular towns and towns for pregnant women can also be included. This week, we signed an agreement with international organizations on financing the restoration of facilities where refugees will live.»

Elderly people and people with a certain group of disabilities need help with housing primarily. Also, those discharged from Lviv hospitals need to be accommodated somewhere, and housing for them should be adapted and affordable.

«This week, we signed a contract on the reconstruction of a large facility, where special conditions for living and a certain type of rehabilitation will be created. There is a fairly large amount of funds, so everything should be done in half a year,» – the official said.

As for modular houses, Ihor Kobryn assures: the city council is working on adapting them to winter. They are warm, the heating is provided, but the main inconvenience is that one module is just a room. So, in order to get to the toilet or shower, you have to go through the yard. Currently, more than 1,000 people live in modular houses in Lviv.

The official considers the issue of housing a priority. Of course, there are people who apply in search of work, but there are significantly fewer of them.

Ihor Kobryn operates with the figures of 110,000 refugees who are currently registered on the territory of the Lviv district and promises that the city will soon open new places for their settlement (in particular, housing for people with disabilities was mentioned). He agrees that it’s necessary to strengthen work in the field of socialization.

Work and social support

Director of the Lviv City Employment Center, Oleh Risnyi, says that business is recovering, and there are more vacancies than people looking for work:

«For example, at the end of February-March, there were 6,000 registered unemployed and only 1,000 vacancies. Currently, there are 1,900 unemployed and 2,000 vacancies. If there is a desire to work, you can find a job in Lviv. Although there are certain restrictions: someone arrives in a difficult psychological state, someone needs housing. Mostly, women with children come, they also need a special approach, so these moments make everything difficult.»

So, he summarizes, there is work for refugees in Lviv, but their physical and psychological condition must be taken into account.

Senior volunteer of the Center for Assistance to Displaced Persons in Lviv, Andrii Trushkovskyi, says that people who have just arrived from shelling need support and help in the integration.

«People come to us every day, although now, there are fewer of them. I, also a refugee, have been in our Support Center since March 13. When people are settled in some facilities in Lviv or the region, they cannot always integrate. There are big problems for people with disabilities, for unaccompanied older people. There are problems with people with mental disabilities who arrive unaccompanied,» – he claims.

From his own experience, Andrii Trushkovskyi concludes that people who escaped shelling need psychological support and help in socialization, and suggests that regional and local authorities create mobile brigades that would work in communities.

It is necessary to pitch high-quality offers to donors

The head of the Maltese Service in Ukraine, Pavlo Titko, believes that the problems of refugees should be talked about, shown, because the support of donors depends on this.

«We often find ourselves faced with a choice, in which sphere to help. Whether to work as in Sambir, where we are renovating a hostel for 130 displaced persons, or to help with heating in Hrybovychi, or to repair more private houses. In the Kharkiv region, we are currently repairing 100 houses in villages that have just been liberated. This is how we will ease the load on the Lviv region. All philanthropists and large foundations who come here with help have this choice,» – he says.

Pavlo Titko mentions a resident of the Kharkiv region, Mrs Olya, who has two goats, eight chickens, and four dogs and wants to stay there at all costs: «She moved from the house to the stable because a grenade hit the house. ‘You close the window for me here, give me a burgher, and everything will be fine,’ the woman asked us.»

In his opinion, international charitable organizations exist precisely for this purpose, to work during such crises, having the opportunity to assess the problems existing in Ukraine. First of all, there is a lack of specialists.

«A social worker is needed, but there is none. People need to solve the basic problems, and then, the psychological and all the others. A person will find a job, but he needs housing. She cannot think about work if she has nowhere to live. We have 100 displaced people who have been sheltered since March. One shelter remains until April, and the second, a private one, has the conditions extremely difficult for people, so it will be closed until January 1. Therefore, it is worth thinking about those people, where they have to move», – notes Pavlo Titko.

Read also: Aid, jobs and education. What Ukrainian refugees can expect in different Western countries

He adds that, perhaps, with the help of the state, businesses will invest in housing. We are not talking about luxury conditions, but at least family dormitories.

«We need to further invest in coordinating the work of the authorities, charitable organizations and the displaced people themselves. It is necessary to form high-quality offers to donors around the world because there are a lot of entrepreneurs and charitable organizations that will come. Donors look at reputation, and it doesn’t matter if it’s government or charities. I personally do not see distrust in the authorities or in any structures,» – he emphasizes.

That is why Pavlo Titko offers to reveal more about the problems of people who had to move, and he is sure that Ukraine can receive more support from the philanthropists, because this is what international charitable organizations are needed for. It is only necessary to form high-quality offers to donors.

Text: Victoria Savitska, translated by Vitalii Holich

Photo: Ivan Stanislavskyi

Full or partial republication of the text without the written consent of the editors is prohibited and considered a violation of copyright.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.

 



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