Olexander Shlapak, Viktor Yushchenko’s first deputy chief of staff, held a press briefing on Friday and said it was one of the president's priorities to help middle-income citizens to buy flats, President's press office reports.
Shlapak said Ukraine had failed to adequately resolve its housing problem, although its construction industry “is booming,” and added that the government allocated very little money to build affordable housing. “Those wanting to improve their housing conditions have been left alone on this market. Our [real estate] market is absolutely disproportionate and distorted. In fact, we have the elite housing market today, which has become a highly profitable business in which only very wealthy citizens can invest,” he said.
Shlapak said Yushchenko had signed an affordable housing decree yesterday and insisted that the state, local and regional authorities, construction companies, banks and owners of engineering networks unite to implement it.
