The unmet funding needs for housing vouchers for selected categories of internally displaced persons from the temporarily occupied territories amount to approximately UAH 72 billion. Vitalii Bezgin, Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, stated this in an interview with “18000” during a working visit to Cherkasy region.

Vitalii Bezgin clarified that, at present, the programme does not cover all categories of people from the temporarily occupied territories. It is aimed at combatants, as well as people who have suffered injuries and have health problems as a result of the armed aggression by the russian federation. According to the Minister, the need in this area is growing every day.

The budget allocation for the voucher programme for this year has been completely used up. At the same time, according to Vitalii Bezgin, there are no funds from Ukrainian taxpayers to finance this need next year. The state is in talks with the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development about possible funding. This could be in the form of grants or preferential loans.

The Minister also spoke about certificates for damaged or destroyed homes. This programme is funded and continues to operate. For next year, the state budget has allocated UAH 11.5 billion for it. Vitalii Bezgin stated that this amount is higher than this year’s, but taking inflation and devaluation into account, the level of funding will be roughly comparable.