In Dnipro, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation helped equip social housing for Mariupol residents
Twenty-one Mariupol families from vulnerable categories of internally displaced persons – military families, large families, people with disabilities, and pensioners – received the keys to smart apartments in the I’m Mariupol. Comfort” social housing. The official handover ceremony took place in Dnipro as part of the “I’Mariupol. Housing” project.
A reliable partner of the project is the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, which joined in equipping the social housing and shared recreation areas. The Foundation’s goal is to create conditions that will ensure comfortable living for a community that supports one another and adapts to new realities.
“Housing has been the number one issue for us over the past two years. Since 2023, the Foundation has been actively involved in creating social housing for Mariupol residents. We have invested more than 12 million in social housing, settled 450 apartments – that is 870 people – and we will continue this cooperation next year,” said Natalia Yemchenko, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation traditionally undertook the arrangement of common areas: recreation rooms, coworking spaces, kitchens, corridors, and halls. In particular, the Foundation provided the premises with furniture, laptops, and necessary household appliances: refrigerators, freezers, and more.
The Foundation fully equipped children’s rooms and three playgrounds near the dormitory. Children will be able to play in a toy house, with board games, puzzles, and toys, splash in a dry ball pit, read, draw, and enjoy spending time outdoors.
Support services also operate in the building: the “I’Mariupol. Care” household center and the Resilience Center with free psychosocial assistance. The premises are designed for 192 families, with some rooms adapted for people with disabilities.
Among the guests at the key handover ceremony for the social housing in Dnipro was Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko. He thanked all partners for the opportunity provided and the support in implementing an important project for internally displaced persons.
“For many of them, this is significant assistance that will give them the opportunity to feel solid ground under their feet and begin building their future in Ukraine. Soon two more programs, initiated jointly with the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, will be launched – the construction of affordable housing under a social rental model and affordable lending for the purchase of their own homes. This will expand the opportunities to support Mariupol residents,” stated Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko.
Dnipro is a city that is home to one of the largest communities of Mariupol residents.
“Today Mariupol residents received apartments in social housing. This is an example of leadership, an example of cooperation with international partners, with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation and with our French friends who invested funds here to support our internally displaced persons, whom we all today call the new residents of Dnipropetrovsk region,” noted Mykola Lukashuk, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council.
Overall, over nearly three years in Dnipro, to provide people with new homes, three large buildings were renovated as part of the “I’Mariupol. Housing” project, in the arrangement of which the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation took part. Today, more than 400 families already live there. In addition, another dormitory was opened in Kyiv in 2024.
The “I’Mariupol. Housing” project was launched in 2023. It is being implemented with the support of the Government of France, the International Organization for Migration, as well as a number of Ukrainian state institutions. The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation is a systemic partner of “I’Mariupol,” in particular helping to equip dormitories for forcibly displaced persons.
The Foundation will continue to support the project: in the near future, the opening of social housing in Chernivtsi and Zaporizhzhia is planned.
Since 2014, assistance from the Foundation, SCM businesses, and the Shakhtar football club has reached more than 18 million people.
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