Thanks to lawyer Olena Stepanova, the Lozova community has provided housing to low-income families, medical workers, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and military families. Olena identified abandoned properties without heirs, which had been vacant for years. Using local budget funds, these homes were renovated and allocated to those in urgent need of housing.

This story is part of the Governance Champions campaign by the USAID HOVERLA Activity. It is a series of publications dedicated to Local Government Day featuring professionals who bring outstanding results to the community through their daily work.

Olena Stepanova identifies unclaimed properties and, through legal processes, transfers them to families without housing — of which there are many in the community. After February 24, 2022, when Russians began daily bombing the border areas with aerial bombs and artillery, residents evacuated to Lozova. In the early months of the full-scale war, more than 20 thousand IDPs arrived in the community, all needing housing, but there were no available apartments. Olena decided to expand the housing stock.

"This became possible with the support of the USAID HOVERLA Activity. HOVERLA team provided substantial assistance, conducted informative seminars and training sessions, and developed procedures for structural units to identify unclaimed inheritance — properties whose owners had died without heirs claiming them within one year," explains Olena Stepanova, head of the legal department of the Lozova City Council.

This process is complex and requires profound legal knowledge. Olena continually learns, starting mornings by checking legislative updates to apply them in community life.

"There are questions, unclear relatives, and dubious realtors who claim these apartments to take them over. Olena Stepanova resolves such issues," says Serhii Zelenskyi, the Lozova Mayor.

Thanks to Olena's work, the community gained ownership of 22 apartments recognized by the court as unclaimed inheritance. At the HOVERLA’s training session on implementing the new law on administrative procedures, Olena learned how to allocate these apartments to those in greatest need: large families, individuals living alone, and soldiers returning from the front lines.

One of those in need of housing was Natalia Vidlir. In 2015, she and her two children fled from Ilovaisk to acquaintances in the Lozova community, unable to return due to the occupation of her hometown. "I had my housing in Ilovaisk—a two-room apartment with all the amenities: individual heating and renovations," recalls with sadness Natalia Vidlir, a resident of the Lozova community.

Now, thanks to Olena’s efforts, Natalia has a service apartment, as she works as a nurse in a local medical facility. She has already started renovating her new home, where she finally feels at ease.

Similar apartments have been provided to young medical professionals who joined the Lozova community and to low-income families. Last year, a local fund apartment was allocated to the family of a fallen defender.

"I want our youth to stay in the community instead of leaving to seek a better life elsewhere. I want our community to develop and for all necessary conditions for a modern European life to be created here, so our children remain here," says Olena Stepanova, head of the legal department of the Lozova City Council. She is ready to work even harder to achieve this goal.

The USAID HOVERLA Activity helps to build the institutional potential of local governments through the professional development of their officials, supporting the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development’s efforts in strengthening the capacity and self-sufficiency of Ukrainian communities.

This publication was prepared based on materials of the non-governmental organization “Icebreaker” (ShoTam media) which were created within the “Effective Solutions for Progressive Communities” project and were made possible by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the generous support of the American people through USAID HOVERLA Activity.  The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government