Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine - Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Oleksii Kuleba met with the Global Director for the Urban, Resilience and Land Global Department at the World Bank, Mr. Ming Zhang.

The meeting was held within the framework of the World Bank mission dedicated to the development of joint projects in the field of housing policy, in particular the implementation of the HOPE initiative and the launch of new programs.

Oleksii Kuleba thanked the partners for their long-term and systematic support of Ukraine. After all, today the joint project - Housing Repair for Peoples Empowerment (HOPE) - is one of the key elements of the government's policy in the field of housing restoration.

“HOPE has become a tool that allows us to provide assistance quickly, transparently, and nationwide. Today, we are talking about expanding this project and preparing new solutions. We are talking about a new support program for internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories. It should give people the opportunity to purchase housing to replace what they lost during the TOT. This is about justice and state responsibility,” said Oleksii Kuleba.

Thanks to this project, more than 94 thousand Ukrainian families have already received compensation for the reconstruction of damaged housing through the eVidnovlennia (eRecovery) mechanism. In May, the World Bank and the Ministry for Development signed an agreement on additional financing in the amount of $84 million, which will allow us to support about 25 thousand more families.

The Ministry also began preparations for a new stage - capital reconstruction. In April, a list of 194 apartment buildings in five territorial communities that will be reconstructed within the framework of the HOPE project was approved. An additional $185 million is being considered to launch construction work in the first quarter of 2026. The relevant proposals have already been submitted to the World Bank.

A separate topic of discussion was the new initiative of the Ministry for Development to provide housing support for internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories. The program provides for the provision of housing vouchers that can be used to purchase housing, make a down payment on a mortgage, or repay a mortgage loan. Assistance will be provided in stages: first, to combatants and families of fallen defenders, then to people with disabilities, large families, and orphans, and finally to other categories of IDPs.

The meeting also discussed:

• Preparation to attract EU funding: a guarantee agreement is expected to be signed between the European Commission and the World Bank, which will allow attracting EUR 215 million within the framework of the Ukraine Investment Framework (UIF) to expand the eRecovery program.
• Development of digital infrastructure: Ukraine initiated the attraction of 10 million US dollars for the development of the Urban planning cadastre - a digital basis for the implementation of key programs for restoration, spatial planning and the introduction of BIM technologies.
• Housing policy strategy: a working group has been created, which has already held its first constituent meeting. The Ministry for Development is counting on the expert participation of the World Bank in the development of this strategic document.

Together with Mr. Ming Zhang, experts in financing, urban development and infrastructure from Austria, the USA, France, Georgia and Australia arrived in Ukraine as part of the World Bank mission.

The Ministry for Development team was represented by First Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories Alona Shkrum, as well as Deputy Ministers Nataliia Kozlovska and Maryna Denysiuk.

For reference: The HOPE project is implemented with the support of the World Bank (acting as the administrator of the Multi-Donor Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund) to provide Ukrainians with compensation for damaged housing. It is part of the Government's systemic policy in the field of housing recovery and is integrated into the eRecovery program.

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