How can housing be provided quickly and sustainably in Ukraine?

The provision of housing is a priority for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Affordable housing in particular is a very important prerequisite for people to stay in Ukraine or return there.

The annual conference “Voices, Visions, Alliances: Co-Creating Ukraine’s Recovery” of the Platform for Reconstruction Ukraine, an initiative of the German federal government for exchange between civil society, the private sector, academia, culture, and local authorities, took place on December 16, 2025, in Berlin and addressed, among other things, the important topic of housing.

IWO Executive Board Member Knut Höller moderated the workshop “Housing Matters – The Power of Municipal Housing.” The urgent need for reform, the necessity of a state housing policy, and the diversification of housing supply were discussed there. Peggy Richter, head of department at the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development, and Building, and Lena Abstiens from the Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development, Construction, and Housing presented the housing policy instruments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the importance of municipal housing companies using Berlin as an example. Yurii Telipskij, managing director of the municipal housing company in Lviv, and Kseniia Semenova from the NGO Metalab in Ivano-Frankivsk reported on housing projects in Lviv, where a residential building for veterans is being constructed, and in Kalush, where a vacant school is being converted into apartments for internally displaced persons.

The workshop was organized in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development, and Building, the D4UC – Dialogue for Urban Chance project, implemented by GIZ and IWO e.V.

IWO is particularly involved in the key topic of “Urban and Municipal Reconstruction.”  More information can be found here: