Homelessness in Ukraine in Wartime: Assessment of the Situation and Public Attitudes is a major analytical study conducted by Depaul Ukraine, in partnership with the Sociological Group “Rating” and the Mykhailo Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Quality of Life Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The research received financial support from the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD). Depaul Ukraine is part of the international Depaul Group and has worked with people experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Ukraine for nearly two decades.

The study combines several complementary forms of research conducted in April 2026. It includes face-to-face interviews with 1,090 people using homelessness services in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Lviv; a detailed survey of 250 people experiencing homelessness; in-depth interviews with 10 representatives of organizations providing assistance; and a nationally representative telephone survey of 1,200 Ukrainian adults. It also uses the European ETHOS Light framework, which recognizes that homelessness includes not only living on the street, but also staying in shelters, temporary accommodations, non-conventional dwellings, or temporarily with relatives or friends because no secure home is available.

Drawing on this extensive evidence, the following series explores twelve different dimensions of homelessness in wartime Ukraine—from its largely hidden scale and its causes to health, employment, public prejudice, housing solutions, and the need for systemic change. Together, the posts seek to make visible the people behind the statistics and to encourage an informed, compassionate, and effective response.

We invite all members of the Vincentian Family to learn more about the homelessness crisis created and intensified by the war in Ukraine, to discover how Vincentian organizations are responding, and to engage more deeply with the findings of this study—either through these twelve summaries or by reading the full report.

You can read or download the full report by clicking here (in English).

Official statistics capture only a fraction of homelessness in wartime Ukraine. A major new study by Depaul Ukraine suggests that tens of thousands of people remain uncounted—and that the true crisis may be far larger than existing records indicate.

A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight

War has transformed Ukraine’s housing crisis. Homes have been destroyed, communities uprooted, livelihoods interrupted, and family support networks scattered across the country and beyond its borders. Yet even as homelessness grows, its full scale remains difficult to see.

The analytical report Homelessness in Ukraine in Wartime: Assessment of the Situation and Public Attitudes offers one of the most detailed attempts to measure this reality. Conducted by Depaul Ukraine, in partnership with the Sociological Group “Rating” and the Mykhailo Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Quality of Life Research, the study reveals an enormous gap between the number of people officially recorded and the number likely to be experiencing homelessness.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Social Policy, 12,451 people had received services from facilities for homeless people as of January 1, 2026. Based on its field research and calculations, however, the report estimates that the actual number of people receiving homelessness services may be between 57,000 and 121,000.

In other words, official figures may be recording only one-fifth—or perhaps as little as one-tenth—of the population using these services.

And even that estimate does not tell the entire story.

What the Researchers Counted

The scale assessment was based on face-to-face interviews with 1,090 adults who were found at various service centers and food distribution points in Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Lviv during April 2026. The researchers examined how frequently people used services, whether they went to more than one facility, and how the numbers recorded through fieldwork compared with administrative statistics.

The study also included a more detailed survey of 250 people experiencing homelessness, interviews with 10 experts working in the sector, and a nationwide telephone survey of 1,200 Ukrainian adults. Together, these different components provide a picture not only of how many people may be affected, but also of how homelessness is experienced and perceived.

The numbers are estimates rather than a complete census. That distinction is important. But the differences uncovered between official records and the people encountered through the study are so large that they cannot be dismissed as a minor statistical variation.

They point instead to a homelessness system that sees only a portion of the people who need help.

Three Cities, Three Enormous Gaps

The clearest evidence comes from Kyiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv.

In Kyiv, the researchers estimated that 1,038 individuals experiencing homelessness had used services during the survey month. This number was arrived at after adjusting the data for repeat visits and attendance at multiple facilities. Government administrative records listed only 170 service recipients.

The study’s estimate was therefore approximately six times the official figure. Researchers also identified 342 people who reported that they did not go to any facility for homeless people.

In Odesa, the estimated number of individuals using services was 516, compared with an official figure of 232. Although the gap was smaller than in the other cities, the fieldwork still indicated approximately twice as many people as administrative records showed. The survey also identified 852 people who did not go to any homeless facilities.

The most dramatic discrepancy appeared in Kharkiv, a city profoundly affected by the war. The study estimated 3,924 people using homelessness services, while administrative data recorded only 160. This means the number identified by the research was approximately 25 times higher than the official count.

The contrast among the cities was striking. Official systems appeared to capture around 45 percent of the estimated service-using population in Odesa, 16.4 percent in Kyiv, and just 4.1 percent in Kharkiv.

Lviv was included in the fieldwork, but the researchers did not use its results to calculate the national estimate because the number of participating facilities was insufficient to provide a reliable citywide assessment. This limitation is openly acknowledged in the report and illustrates the difficulty of producing accurate homelessness data during wartime.

The People No System Records

The national estimate of 57,000 to 121,000 refers primarily to people who receive services from facilities for homeless people. But many others never enter a shelter, visit a support center, or go to a food distribution point.

Some may sleep in abandoned buildings, basements, garages, railway stations, or other unsafe places. Others move temporarily between the homes of relatives and acquaintances. Some may avoid services because they do not know what help is available, lack documents, fear institutions, have had negative experiences with public services, or do not want to be formally identified.

The report therefore warns that the true number of people experiencing homelessness may be considerably higher than its calculated range.

Experts interviewed for the research offered a much broader wartime assessment, suggesting that the total population experiencing some form of homelessness could exceed one million people. This should not be confused with the study’s statistical estimate of 57,000 to 121,000 service users. Rather, it reflects a broader expert understanding of housing exclusion and instability produced by displacement, destruction, poverty, and war.

The report also intentionally excludes many internally displaced people living in collective centers or other forms of temporary wartime accommodation. Some international definitions would classify such situations within a broader spectrum of homelessness, but the researchers treated them as a separate category in the Ukrainian context.

The numbers presented, therefore, are not an attempt to exaggerate the crisis. If anything, they may represent only its most visible layer.

Why Accurate Numbers Matter

Counting people does not solve homelessness. But without reliable information, governments and communities cannot know how many shelters, social workers, medical services, legal programs, or permanent homes are required.

When thousands of people remain absent from official records, they can also remain absent from budgets and public policy.

The report identifies the lack of objective, systematic information as one of the principal obstacles to an effective national response. It recommends combining administrative registers with street counts, surveys, expert analysis, and regular research at both national and municipal levels.

This would allow Ukraine to move from an emergency system that is constantly “putting out fires” toward policies that prevent homelessness, respond rapidly when housing is lost, and help people return to permanent homes before homelessness becomes prolonged.

Reliable data is therefore more than a technical concern. It determines who becomes visible, whose needs are recognized, and whether public institutions are prepared to respond.

Seeing the Person Behind the Statistic

For members of the Vincentian Family, the gap revealed by this report carries a particular challenge. The Vincentian tradition begins by approaching people who have been overlooked, listening to their experience, and recognizing their dignity before deciding what assistance they need.

A person who is not counted can easily become a person whom society does not see.

The numbers—12,451 officially recorded, perhaps 57,000 to 121,000 using services, and potentially many more outside every system—represent men and women whose homes, relationships, health, employment, and sense of security have been damaged by circumstances that cannot be reduced to individual failure.

Depaul Ukraine’s research provides an essential first act of service: it makes an invisible crisis more visible.

The numbers do not provide the final answer, but they make one conclusion unavoidable: homelessness in wartime Ukraine is far more extensive than official records suggest, and any adequate response must begin by recognizing the true dimensions of the human emergency.

Image © DePaul Group.