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).

In wartime Ukraine, homelessness does not begin only with the destruction of a building. It can emerge through displacement, unemployment, unaffordable rent, family separation, disability, trauma, or the difficult return from military service. The report shows how war turns existing vulnerabilities into pathways toward losing a home.

When War Destroys More Than Housing

The most direct connection between war and homelessness is painfully visible: a missile strikes an apartment building, a town falls under occupation, or a family is forced to leave a home to which it may never be able to return.

But the loss of a home is rarely only the loss of walls and a roof. It may also mean the disappearance of employment, savings, personal documents, social connections, access to health care, and the network of relatives and neighbors who once helped a person through difficult times.

The report Homelessness in Ukraine in Wartime: Assessment of the Situation and Public Attitudes shows that the full-scale invasion has not simply increased the number of people without housing. It has created new and more complicated pathways into homelessness.

Among the people experiencing homelessness who were surveyed, 46 percent said that military action or occupation was the principal reason they had lost their permanent residence. War-related housing loss was especially common among internally displaced people, 84 percent of whom identified it as the primary cause. It was also reported more frequently by women, at 56 percent.

These figures make the war the single most frequently reported cause of housing loss among the study’s respondents.

A Crisis Most Ukrainians Believe Has Worsened

The wider Ukrainian population recognizes that the situation is deteriorating. In the national survey included in the study, 76 percent of respondents said that homelessness had worsened since the beginning of the full-scale war. Nearly half—48 percent—believed it had worsened significantly.

The perception was strongest in the eastern and southern regions, which have been most directly exposed to fighting, destruction, occupation, and repeated displacement. People with lower incomes were also especially likely to believe that the problem had become significantly worse, reflecting how close many households may already be to housing insecurity.

Yet the report identifies an important contradiction. While many Ukrainians view homelessness as a serious national problem, far fewer recognize it within their own communities. This may be partly because wartime homelessness often remains hidden: people stay temporarily with relatives, move between hostels and shelters, occupy damaged buildings, or survive in other unstable arrangements that are not immediately visible on the street.

The crisis can therefore grow around a community without being fully recognized by its residents or local authorities.

Displacement Is Often the Beginning, Not the End

Being internally displaced does not automatically mean that a person is homeless. Many displaced Ukrainians have found stable rental housing, moved in permanently with relatives, or successfully established new lives elsewhere.

For others, however, evacuation is only the first stage in a gradual loss of stability.

A person may leave an occupied or heavily damaged community with some savings, a suitcase, and the expectation of returning home within weeks. Temporary accommodation may initially be available through family members, volunteers, collective centers, or short-term rental arrangements.

As the war continues, those resources can disappear.

Savings are spent. Free accommodation ends. Relatives may no longer have enough space or money to host another household. Employment is difficult to find. Rent continues to rise. A temporary arrangement that once offered safety becomes unsustainable.

The study found that internally displaced people made up 40 percent of the homeless respondents, making them the largest vulnerable group identified in the detailed survey.

Experts interviewed for the report explained that many displaced people have adapted successfully or moved abroad. Those who become homeless are often people facing several disadvantages at once: limited employment opportunities, low educational qualifications, disability, poor health, weak social networks, or difficulty navigating services in an unfamiliar city.

In parts of western Ukraine, experts also identified limited Ukrainian-language proficiency as an additional barrier for some displaced people from predominantly Russian-speaking communities. Combined with sharply increased rental prices and the absence of local connections, this can make securing both employment and housing especially difficult.

The pathway is rarely a sudden jump from a secure apartment to the street. More often, it is a sequence of diminishing options.

The Link Between Employment and Housing

War separates people not only from their homes but also from the local economies that sustained them.

A person who once had regular work may arrive in a new city where qualifications are not easily transferable, jobs are scarce, wages are low, or health problems restrict the kind of work that can be accepted. Those caring for children, older relatives, or family members with disabilities face additional obstacles.

Without employment, renting a home becomes nearly impossible. Without a stable address, clean clothing, access to transportation, or a place to rest, finding and keeping employment becomes even more difficult.

This creates a cycle: Job loss threatens housing. Housing loss then makes returning to work harder.

Experts interviewed for the study described people who traveled to major cities in search of employment but quickly became vulnerable when work did not materialize. Without money for accommodation, some were robbed or exploited near railway stations, while others gradually learned to survive through food distribution sites and emergency shelters.

The report does not suggest that humanitarian services cause homelessness. On the contrary, they protect lives. But experts warn that food, clothing, and a place to sleep cannot, by themselves, help someone leave homelessness. When permanent housing and specialized employment support are absent, emergency assistance may keep a person alive without providing a route back into stable living.

The survey found that 78 percent of people experiencing homelessness had no work, while only 6 percent had permanent employment. Yet 95 percent of unemployed respondents who were able to answer the question said that they had worked previously.

These are not, in most cases, people with no history of employment. They are people whose ability to participate in the labor market has been weakened by homelessness, displacement, poor health, age, discrimination, or war.

Rising Rents and the Shortage of Affordable Housing

The availability of accommodation is another decisive factor.

Cities receiving large numbers of displaced people have experienced greater demand for housing. For households with secure employment and savings, higher rents are a serious burden. For someone who has fled occupation, lost a job, or arrived without a support network, they can create an insurmountable barrier.

The experts consulted in the report specifically identified high rental costs as one of the reasons some internally displaced people are unable to establish stable lives. The problem is especially severe when rental prices rise faster than wages or social benefits.

The lack of sufficient social housing leaves few alternatives.

A person may be willing to work, pay an affordable rent, and cooperate with social services, yet still be unable to find a home within reach. The study found that 58 percent of homeless respondents would accept permanent social housing, nevertheless, permanent housing was the most frequently identified need … and this need was cited by 51 percent of the respondents.

This challenges the assumption that people remain homeless because they reject ordinary responsibilities. Often, the affordable housing they need simply does not exist in sufficient numbers.

Family Networks Under Wartime Pressure

Families frequently serve as Ukraine’s first and strongest protection against homelessness. They offer a spare room, financial help, assistance with children, transportation, and emotional support.

War places all of these resources under pressure.

Families may become physically separated across different regions or countries. Several displaced households may be living in one small apartment. Older parents may be trying to support adult children despite losing income themselves. Relationships already experiencing tension may become overwhelmed by overcrowding, trauma, unemployment, and uncertainty.

The survey identified family conflict or relationship breakdown as the second most common reason for losing housing, reported by 22 percent of respondents.

Family breakdown is not a new cause of homelessness. Experts described divorce, disputes between parents and adult children, and conflicts over inherited property as long-standing pathways into housing loss, but wartime stress can intensify these difficulties.

When formal housing systems are weak, family relationships become the informal safety net. If that safety net breaks, a person may have nowhere else to go.

Women can face particular risks. Although men still represent the majority of people experiencing homelessness, experts have observed a faster increase in the number of women seeking assistance since the beginning of the war. The report notes that the proportion of men of mobilization age who go to these various centers may also be affected by fears connected with mobilization procedures.

Women may initially avoid shelters by staying with friends or relatives, making their homelessness less visible, but these arrangements can expose them to dependence, exploitation, abuse, or sudden eviction.

Veterans Returning to an Uncertain Home

Veterans are another emerging group at risk.

Military service does not itself cause homelessness, and most veterans return to families and communities that support them. Some, however, come home to discover that their housing has been destroyed, occupied, sold, or lost during their absence. Others face physical injuries, psychological trauma, unemployment, family conflict, or difficulty adjusting to civilian routines.

The report’s detailed survey identified veterans as 6 percent of the homeless respondents. However, experts emphasized that the number of veterans approaching homelessness services is increasing.

This is an especially urgent warning because the full dimensions of veterans’ homelessness may not yet be visible. Some veterans may be temporarily staying with acquaintances, living in unstable accommodation, or avoiding services because of pride, distrust, stigma, or lack of information.

Their needs may extend far beyond emergency shelter. Reintegration can require permanent housing, physical rehabilitation, psychological care, employment assistance, help restoring family relationships, and sustained personal accompaniment.

A veteran may have served the country and still return to a society without a secure place for him or her to live. Preventing that outcome must be understood as both a housing responsibility and a moral obligation.

War Deepens Existing Vulnerabilities

The invasion has created new homelessness, but it has also intensified older causes.

Before the full-scale war, people were already losing homes through poverty, family conflict, property fraud, discharge from prisons or residential institutions, psychiatric illness, disability, and unemployment. These pathways have not disappeared. They now operate within a country whose housing stock, public finances, medical services, and social institutions are under extraordinary pressure.

An older person living alone may be more vulnerable to fraud after displacement. Someone leaving prison may return to discover that the family home no longer exists. A person with a disability may find evacuation, employment, and rental housing nearly impossible to navigate. Someone discharged from a hospital may have no safe accommodation in which to recover.

The war therefore does not produce a completely separate form of homelessness. It multiplies existing risks and removes the protections that once prevented a crisis from becoming permanent.

This is why the report warns against drawing a rigid boundary between “war-related” and “traditional” homelessness.

After months without stable housing, a person who fled a destroyed home may lose documents, develop serious health problems, become isolated from relatives, and struggle to maintain personal care. Outwardly, that person may eventually look no different from someone who has lived on the street for many years.

The original cause of homelessness then becomes invisible, and society may begin to blame the individual for circumstances created by war and prolonged institutional neglect.

From Emergency Response to Prevention

The report portrays a system that often operates in “firefighting” mode. Assistance becomes available after a person has already lost housing, health, employment, documents, and social connections.

By that point, the work of rebuilding a stable life is much more difficult.

A more effective response would intervene earlier: helping a displaced family meet rent before eviction, ensuring that a wounded veteran has housing before leaving rehabilitation, restoring documents before a person loses access to benefits, or supporting a strained family before conflict ends in expulsion.

Emergency shelters remain necessary, particularly during war. But they cannot substitute for prevention, affordable housing, social work, mental health care, employment programs, and long-term accompaniment.

Depaul Ukraine’s work reflects this broader approach. Alongside shelters and support centers, the organization provides legal and psychosocial assistance, supports the reconstruction of damaged homes, assists internally displaced people and veterans, and has begun a pilot social housing project.

Such work recognizes that homelessness is not solved simply by surviving another night. It is overcome when a person regains security, autonomy, relationships, and a lasting place in the community.

Recognizing the Road That Led There

For the Vincentian Family, understanding these pathways changes the question we ask.

Instead of asking, “Why is this person homeless?” as though one personal decision must explain everything, we are invited to ask: What happened to this person, what protections failed, and what will help restore a stable life?

The answer may include a destroyed apartment, an occupied hometown, a job that disappeared, rent that became unaffordable, a disability, trauma after military service, or a family relationship that could no longer bear the pressure of war.

Often, it includes several of these experiences at once.

The report shows that wartime homelessness is not an isolated social problem existing at the margins of the conflict. It is one of the ways war continues to harm people long after they have escaped the immediate danger.

Responding requires more than compassion for those already on the street. It requires recognizing the roads that lead there—and acting before displacement, poverty, trauma, and temporary insecurity become permanent homelessness.

Image © DePaul Group.