Homeless Kyiv resident wins case against the City Administration

The suit involved the fraught issue of Kyiv registration with the claimant, 26-year-old Oleksandr Kvashuk represented by a Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union lawyer. The ruling handed down by the Solomyansky District Court in Kyiv effectively confirmed the right of any homeless resident of the city to indefinite registration.

The issue arose around Kyiv’s only Social Care Home under the Central Department for Social Protection of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA).  It was this Social Care Home which according to the law is obliged to register homeless persons at its legal address. 

Oleksandr Kvashuk who didn’t have any possibility of renting a flat, approached the Home asking them to provide him with accommodation and to register him.  The accommodation was found, however the management categorically refused to register him.

During 2006-2007 Oleksandr wrote applications however these were ignored. And to stop him annoying them, the Director of the Unit warned him that if he kept raising the question of registration, they’d evict him.

He was not however daunted, and wrote to the Prosecutor General asserting his rights.  This had an effect, but only for 14 days. This was the period that the Social Care Home registered him for, so that they could tell the Prosecutor General’s Office that the registration had been given.

However, when the 14 days were up, the Head of the Home refused to renew Oleksandr’s contract of accommodation and he was evicted. He was also repeatedly called and threatened on his mobile phone.

The Director changed, but the situation only slightly. Oleksandr was again registered, but only for two months and then again turned down.

This time, defended by a UHHRU lawyer, Oleh Veremienko, Oleksandr lodged an application with the court. The latter ruled that the refusal to register him had been unlawful. The Social Care Home was ordered to provide Oleksandr with a place to live, or if there wasn’t one, put him on the waiting list for social housing.

Most importantly, the court ordered the Kyiv City Administration’s Social Care Home to provide Oleksandr Kvashuk with indefinite registration.