1 December 2015

New IOM’s “Cash for Rent” programme, launched in November 2015 with funding from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), provides financial support to internally displaced persons (IDPs) wishing to move from substandard living conditions or those in urgent need of tangible improvements in their rented accommodation.

The programme is implemented in Kharkiv and Kharkiv Region, where about 200,000 IDPs are officially registered.

Participation in the programme implies financial assistance from November 2015 till April 2016, which is to be spent exclusively on the abovementioned housing needs.

Any IDP who is officially registered and actually living in Kharkiv or Kharkiv Region, may apply for the rent assistance via the dedicated hotline 0-800-215-025.

The main prerequisite for participation in the programme is the first assessment visit of an IOM employee in order to check the living conditions and to fill out a specific questionnaire with the potential programme applicant. During programme implementation, the IOM staff will perform periodic monitoring visits to ensure that the assistance is being used as intended. Therefore, potential participants must be ready to meet these visitors personally.

This programme is necessary to address the challenges faced by internally displaced persons IDPs in finding decent accommodation. On the one hand, they may suffer from the large financial burden placed on the family budget incurred by paying high rent, since IDPs do not always have access to a wide variety of accommodation options or may be quoted higher prices. On the other hand, labour market access and skill-matching issues deprive IDPs of the opportunity to achieve gainful employment and earn a steady income to support dignified living solutions.