German Development Assistance builds resilient housing and infrastructure in Ukraine

The Strengthening of Urban Resilience in the Areas of Supply Infrastructure and Housing (SUR) project provides transitional development assistance to help Ukrainian cities recover from Russian attacks.

This initiative, implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, uses a flexible funding instrument from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to bridge the gap between immediate humanitarian relief and long-term development.

The project operates in more than 100 cities, focusing on restoring essential services like electricity, water, and heating while preparing local communities for future shocks. The project supports various infrastructure needs, such as providing decentralized drinking water points in Mykolaiv, which lost its centralized supply in 2022. It also supplies energy equipment, including 118 combined heat and power plants, to help municipalities maintain heating during winter.

In Kryvyi Rih, the project supports a district heating strategy and upgrades energy systems for municipal hospitals to ensure they can operate independently of the power grid during attacks. In the housing sector, the project has helped restore more than 800 homes since the start of the invasion. It currently supports six pilot cities, including Zhytomyr and Kremenchuk, in creating municipal housing strategies.

These plans aim to address structural issues like the lack of a formal rental market and the shortage of affordable housing for internally displaced persons. While local authorities face challenges like staff shortages and constant attacks, the initiative focuses on building long-term capacities that remain useful after the immediate crisis ends.