Experiences with housing market monitoring in Germany for sharing with Ukraine

Last week, IWO launched a series of online webinars in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Ukraine to support the Ukrainian Ministry for the Development of Communities and Territories to develop a national housing strategy. The first webinar familiarized the participants with German practices of housing monitoring to support Ukrainian policymakers establish a mechanism of data analysis for evidence-based housing policy. Around 70 Ukrainian housing experts, public officials, and practitioners attended the event, which sparked an engaging debate about the transferability of the German experience. The German-Ukrainian IWO team is further elaborating the recommendations for housing monitoring system and key initial indicators for Ukraine, which will be submitted to the Ministry and public shortly.

The webinar began with introductory remarks from Knut Höller (Executive board member of IWO) and Orkhan Aliyev (Chief of Party at Habitat for Humanity International Ukraine). They outlined Ukraine’s current efforts and challenges in creating a coherent housing policy that responds to the immediate challenges of war while promoting the sustainable long-term development of the housing sector. Serhii Komnatnyi (Coordinator of the Technical Working Group on the Development of the State Housing Strategy of the Ministry of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine) highlighted the necessity to introduce a flexible housing monitoring system that will support these reformation efforts and suggested to build on the momentum by public discussion on the parameters of such a system as the National housing strategy is being developed.

Albina Dik led the first part of the webinar on behalf of IWO, providing comprehensive input on housing monitoring in Germany. She elaborated on the objectives of housing market analysis and the historical development of monitoring mechanisms. She contextualised housing monitoring practices within the broader legal framework of housing policies and explained about federal, regional, and municipal responsibilities. Her presentation concluded with an overview of the most important indicators in German housing monitoring. She explained which data sets are analysed and how it informs housing strategy development.

Robert Koschitzki offered expert insights into housing monitoring from a practitioner’s perspective. Drawing on his decades of experience in this field, he reflected on the conceptual challenges he encountered while working in Lower Saxony. As the leader of the housing market advisory group at the regional development bank, he has authored several housing market reports for the region. He recommended ways in which Ukrainian policymakers could build institutional capacities from scratch and initiate the monitoring process despite data scarcity. 

The webinar was concluded by Oleg Syabrenko (GIZ’s and IWO’s housing and data analysis expert in Ukraine) who explained the current state of statistical data on housing in Ukraine and drew next steps in the establishment of a monitoring mechanism for Ukraine. The German-Ukrainian IWO team will further elaborate the recommendations for housing monitoring and key indicators for Ukraine, which will be submitted to the Ministry and public shortly.

We would like to express our gratitude to all the speakers and participants of the event and all the positive feedback that we have received for the input and the format! Looking forward to further exchanges.

The recording of the Webinar is available at IWO’s channel in Ukrainian:

The webinar took place under the ADH-funded project “Diversifying Housing Assistance Pathways Towards Decent and Affordable Housing in Ukraine,” facilitated by Habitat for Humanity Deutschland and implemented by Habitat for Humanity Ukraine.