Models of ownership by creation of municipal housing companies in destroyed Ukrainian cities

The purpose of the report is to demonstrate the way out of difficult situation in private housing in multi-apartment buildings, which is caused in Ukraine by massive destructions and migration of population. We have proposed financial mechanisms of external investments in new buildings and reconstruction of damaged housing stock, further sustainable provision of housing in cities based on the transformation and diversification of ownership models. Situation analysis. As of 2020, 93.3% of urban families in Ukraine lived in their own dwellings (66.9% in apartment buildings); 5.7% rented them from private owners, and only 1% used municipal or company housing as tenants. The state policy and legislation on housing ownership and management were focused mainly on joint homeownership based on a distorted and inefficient national condominium model: without a land plot, state registration and reflection of houses as real estates in accounting. The low incomes of citizens did not allow them, as owners, to make decisions that would ensure the proper maintenance and repair of their houses. In the context of massive destruction, these and other shortcomings of the ownership and management model, like actual absence of residents of the destroyed buildings, became an obstacle to organising investments in their reconstruction. That is why financial schemes for public and donor’s funding for the reconstruction of private housing are currently strictly limited. Methodology. Our previous long-term research on the renovation of housing of inefficient owners was based on a comprehensive systematic analysis of the historical causes, legislative shortcomings, technical and economic problems of joint ownership and management of buildings. This has actually allowed us to be prepared to justify non-standard solutions by linking the reconstruction of destroyed housing with the need to transform the forms and relations of ownership in apartment buildings. Proposals. Taking into account heavy financial situation of households and their need of repaired or new dwellings, it is proposed to expand significantly the segment of municipal social housing, as opposed to preserving private property model. European and global practice has tested the model of using loans to build new municipal buildings and transfer them as assets to municipal housing companies for use as rented apartments. However, to speed up the resettlement of families, we propose to use loans to buy out cheaper apartments in already completed or unfinished buildings. This will mean that municipal housing companies will own and manage not only entire buildings, but also individual apartments in jointly owned buildings. Our next completely innovative proposal is to introduce also a model of external municipal or private investment in the restoration and reconstruction of jointly owned (condominium) properties with the preliminary transformation of owners' associations into business companies with investor participation. In such a model, the municipal housing company will also own shares of corporate rights, and the former apartment owners will pay the investor rent in proportion to his contribution. Practical implications. Our proposals are being discussed in professional circles in Ukraine with the participation of investors and government officials. Familiarisation with them by a wide foreign professional community should help to improve and implement an effective diversified model of sustainable housing provision.