Rent Hikes in Lviv Push Refugees Out
Ukrainian evacuees arrive at a village of prefabricated houses for people displaced by the war in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 19, 2022. [Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP]
When Ivanna Didur arrived in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on March 3, just a week after the war in Ukraine began, she was relieved. Like thousands of others, she had fled Kyiv with her husband and their young daughter, her in-laws, and her pet cats. After what felt like the longest journey of her life, she arrived at a colleague’s apartment in Lviv. She planned to stay in the city until she could get on her feet again. She finally felt safe.
And then she got scammed trying to find a place to live. Not just once, but twice. “There are good people and bad people everywhere,” she said. “These are just some of the bad.”
Until the attack on April 18, which Ukrainian officials say killed at least seven people, Lviv was considered one of the safest cities in Ukraine, which has made it a destination for thousands of Ukrainians looking for a new place to settle. While Didur was quick to point out the kindness and help she received from many strangers, when I spoke with her in Lviv, she said that the experience of trying to rent an apartment there had left her disheartened. As of mid-March, an estimated 200,000 refugees have arrived in the city since the war began, and rent prices are now up to 10 times their prewar rates.
As it became clear the war would not end soon, Didur’s husband returned to Kyiv to help people escape, and she started searching for housing in Lviv for herself and her daughter. Of those who answered the phone, many would ask for hundreds of dollars in prepayment before even agreeing to show her the apartment.
When Didur finally found a suitable apartment, she was told that the owners lived 100 kilometers away, and therefore would not show her the apartment until a deposit was sent to cover their travel costs.
“It sounded quite realistic, and I did believe them,” Didur explained, saying that she sent them $34. This was a relatively low sum compared to what others had been asking for, she said. “And then they disappeared.”
The average price of a centrally located two-bedroom apartment in Lviv before the war started was between $300 and $400 a month. Now apartments on rental sites such as OLX.com regularly showcase apartments being rented for $3,400 per month – prices that are on par with those in New York, London or San Francisco.
When Didur was finally able to find another apartment, the asking price of three times the prewar rate seemed reasonable for a fully furnished, short-term lease of just a few months. But when she arrived the first night, she found that the entire apartment had been stripped. The pillows and blankets had been removed, along with pots, pans, plates and cutlery. When she confronted the owner, the owner told Didur that she feared her belongings would be stolen. Didur decided she could not live under such conditions and went back to her colleague’s home for another month. The apartment owner never returned Didur’s rental deposit of $800.
Didur’s experience is increasingly common. Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of Lviv, has set up a hotline to field calls about the behavior of bad landlords. In an interview, Sadoviy likened these rent hikes to “looting.” He has said that his office has received nearly 1,000 calls about exploitative landlords. He has promised to investigate all claims, and to introduce a bill that would criminalize such activity as war profiteering.
But many rental sites continue to feature outrageous prices for rentals. Didur considered reporting the landlord who tripled rent on her apartment, but decided not to due to the overall scarcity of housing. “It is tricky, because nothing is available,” she explained. “So I couldn’t imagine reporting this landlord because then I would potentially lose even this opportunity.”
Of the estimated 200,000 internally displaced refugees that have fled to Lviv, 50,000 are expected to stay for longer periods. With refugees continuing to arrive, on April 7, Sadoviy announced plans to build thousands of temporary houses in cooperation with the Red Cross and UNICEF.
The situation in Lviv is a microcosm of the challenges that Ukrainian refugees are facing across Europe. While aid efforts have so far managed to provide food, shelter and clothing for refugees, resources remain stretched thin – especially when it comes to longer-term housing.
Ukraine’s policy of preventing men of military age from leaving the country has meant that the vast majority of refugees are women and children, and the lack of housing has made them exceptionally vulnerable. Many are desperate to leave the shelters that often house hundreds of people in a single open room, and authorities fear that once they do, some may be targeted by predators. Authorities in Berlin have warned refugees not to accept offers of money or accommodation due to fears of human trafficking and, according to an investigation by the Irish Examiner, landlords in Ireland have offered “slim Ukrainian” women tenants free or reduced rent with the expectation of sex.
These challenges have prompted some refugees to return home, rather than deal with the difficulties of finding housing and work.
On the train from Krakow to Przemyśl, a Polish border town with a direct connection to Lviv, a woman who gave her name only as Maria was traveling with her mother and her young son. When asked why she wanted to return to a war zone, she simply shrugged and said in Russian, “It is home. It is what we know. Everything is different abroad.”
She, her son and her mother had spent more than three weeks in Poland sleeping on a thin gym mat in a gymnasium with hundreds of other people. Her son missed his friends and father. Maria had tried to find an apartment and work as a cleaner, but soon gave up. “We are not rich, we must have work and an affordable place to live.” For her, the choice is grim but clear: it is better to die at home than to waste away far from it.
Didur, too, has been considering a return to Kyiv, despite the dangers. “It is risky, of course. But I really don’t see an opportunity to stay here more than a few months,” she said. “And I don’t want to go through this rental process again.”
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