The historical prerequisites and the stages of the evolution of housing policy in Ukraine

Abstract

The issue of housing policy in different times and countries is always relevant for scholars and practitioners, but no none has not studied sufficiently in Ukraine yet. Hence, there is a need to study the pre-Soviet and Soviet historical experience of housing provision for the Ukrainian population, which serves as a prerequisite for the development of modern housing policy. The purpose of the study is to characterize the evolution of housing policy in the Ukrainian lands and to find out its peculiarities at different historical stages in the context of the prerequisites for modern regulation of housing relations. The main methods in the work were the principles of dialectical logic, analysis and synthesis, historicism, as well as the problem-chronological, comparative, systemic-structural, and comprehensive methods. Main results. We are the first who describe the historical stages and circumstances of the transformation of housing policy in Ukraine from the formation of municipal administration to the modern state policy. The chronological boundaries of six historical stages of housing policy evolution, from its formation in the midnineteenth century to the period of Ukraine’s independence, are identified and clarified. The housing sector in the Ukrainian lands at different historical stages had peculiarities of construction and use of housing related to natural and socio-economic conditions, urbanization processes, as well as the socio-political structure of the states. National traditions had a greater influence on rural architecture, while the methods of construction and management of the housing sector in Soviet-era cities, which became unified, are a direct prerequisite for modern housing policy in Ukraine. Some progressive projects, forms and methods of Soviet-era housing provision, as well as legal achievements, such as the Housing Code, used in post-Soviet Ukraine, are described. The author identifies and analyses the shortcomings of the Soviet and pre-Soviet practice of housing construction and housing management. The modern housing policy of Ukraine has the radical changes after the mass privatization of housing in 1992, which prompts the study of the historical experience of regulating housing relations. Conclusions. The theory and practice of housing construction and management of the housing sector in the Ukrainian lands began to become systematic in the mid-nineteenth century. Since Ukraine gained its independence, housing policy has passed through six historical stages, which differed in socio-political, legal, socio-economic and technological features. The historical stages of housing policy reflect its evolution with all its shortcomings and achievements and are a prerequisite for effective regulation of the housing sector in the twenty-first century. We should study and use to meet the needs of citizens of the historical experience of housing policy development in the process of reforming and rebuilding of modern Ukraine.