For 46% of homeless people, the main reason for losing their housing was military action or occupation.

This is according to a study conducted by the Sociological Group "Rating" (Rating Group) in partnership with the charitable foundation Depaul Ukraine and the Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, with financial support from CAFOD.

Research stages

The study included four stages:

1. Assessing the scale of homelessness — a survey of 1,090 homeless people (Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv)
2. A survey of homeless people — 260 respondents (Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Lviv)
3. Expert interviews — 10 expert interviews
4. A general representative survey of Ukraine's population on attitudes toward homelessness

Key findings

• IDPs and veterans — new risk groups: Among homeless people, 40% are internally displaced persons, and the number of veterans seeking help keeps rising. Experts note that veterans struggle to reintegrate into civilian life and end up on the street.
• Homeless people are often outwardly indistinguishable from the rest of the population: Although 70% of Ukrainians associate homelessness with addiction, the survey shows that 63% of homeless people have never had an alcohol dependency, and 92% have never had a drug dependency. Addiction is often not the cause but the result of living on the street.
• Readiness for change: 86% of homeless people say they want help returning to a stable life. 58% are willing to meet strict conditions (paying rent, employment, oversight by social services) to receive social housing.
• Public demand: 89% of the population consider homeless people full members of society, and 68% have a positive attitude toward opening a shelter near their home. Although 84% of citizens provided some help to homeless people over the past year, the public places the main responsibility for solving the problem on local authorities (39%) and central government (38%).
• A hidden scale of the crisis: 76% of Ukrainians say the homelessness situation has worsened as a result of the full-scale war. Official statistics may lag behind reality: the state records only 12,500 people, while the number of people visiting homeless assistance centers reaches 57,000–121,000. Experts estimate that the total number of homeless people, including those who don't turn to any service, may exceed one million.

Rating Group is one of Ukraine's largest research institutions, operating since 2008. The company is registered in Ukraine and has extensive experience conducting sociological surveys in Ukraine and abroad. The group includes the Rating Sociological Group, the Rating Lab research laboratory, the Rating Online platform, and the Rating Call Center.