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Development of Public Policy in the Regions (DPPR)
The organizational and research project “Through the Community to Shared Comfort” is implemented by the public organization Consortium of Intellectual Service “Leon-Analytic” in Lutsk with the support of “Freedom House – Ukraine”
Project description
| description of the problem the project is aimed at solving | Created back in the Soviet Union era, “ZhEKs”, now – housing and utility enterprises (ZhKP), have long ceased to meet the requirements of the times, consumer requirements, or today's socio-economic conditions. In addition, public entities intended to protect the rights of consumers of housing and utility services, such as building committees or homeowners’ associations, are very often artificial, unprofessional formations and do not perform their functions. Another dimension or aspect of this problem is the lack of regulatory and methodological support for the activities of business structures in the housing services market, and hence the unpreparedness of such business structures to operate in this market. Therefore, the following problems should be highlighted: 1. Poor quality of housing services due to monopolization of this market segment, as well as unregulated liability of service providers to consumers; 2. Passivity and lack of professionalism of public associations of homeowners; 3. Imperfect local regulatory framework for ensuring a competitive and active business environment in the provision of housing services; 4. Unpreparedness of business structures to operate in the housing services market. |
| description of goals and objectives |
The goal of the proposed project is to introduce a model for reforming the provision of housing services by establishing intersectoral interaction – “public-authority-business”
in order to protect the rights of housing service consumers by creating a competitive and normatively regulated market for such services. To achieve the set goal, the following tasks are envisaged within the framework of this project: - research of problems in the field of housing services from the perspective of all participants in the housing services market; - analysis of the main problems in the functioning of public associations of homeowners and business structures that provide/will provide housing services; - formation of public opinion regarding shared responsibility and the need for public initiatives in the field of operation of the housing stock and multi-apartment buildings; - preparation of the active members of building committees and other public associations of homeowners for professional activity in defending the rights of housing service consumers; - development (with the help of project participants) of a set of systematized local legal framework to optimize the functioning of the housing services market. - lobbying for and implementation of a local regulatory framework that will ensure the functioning of the housing services market; - preparing the management of business structures – participants in the housing services market – to work under new conditions; - promoting the formation of a system of qualitatively new housing services to be provided under conditions of a clear delineation of the responsibilities of housing services market participants, a normatively regulated market for the latter, and competition; - strengthening ties between public organizations and think tanks in the field of municipal governance; - dissemination of the acquired experience among public organizations and local self-government bodies of other territories. |
| description of the activities carried out within the project |
Before the start of the project implementation, it is planned to conduct a large-scale public opinion survey of Lutsk residents regarding problems in the field of housing services provision. The project envisages: 1. monitoring and analysis of the local regulatory framework that ensures the provision of housing services; 2. Holding round tables with the participation of interested representatives of government, business, and public associations in order to identify problematic situations and discuss drafts of local regulatory documents on regulating the housing services market; 3. Based on the results of the round table and on the basis of known best practices - development of the necessary draft local regulatory acts; 4. Conducting an information campaign (press conferences, TV segments, publications, etc.) regarding the specifics of the new regulatory framework and the economic characteristics of this market in order to spread the ideas of shared responsibility for the condition of residential buildings, the possibilities of solving the problem through the formation of a competitive housing services market, etc.; 5. Formation of a database of existing building committees and other public associations of homeowners; 6. Providing consultations in hotline mode to the activists of building committees, the management of business structures that will operate in the housing services market, and citizen consumers; 7. Preparation and holding of a series of consultative meetings with the activists of public associations of homeowners and the management of interested business structures regarding the regulatory and legal foundations of the functioning of the housing services market; 8. Preparation of a set of systematized information on the functioning of homeowners associations, optimization of their cooperation with local self-government bodies and enterprises providing housing and communal services; 9. Providing methodological and organizational support in the creation of a coordinating body at the city-wide level from among building committees for the joint protection of the rights of housing services consumers on the basis of further self-financing; 10. Lobbying for the adoption of local regulatory documents on optimizing the functioning of housing services market participants and their users, expanding their rights and powers, and delineating responsibilities. |
| Expected long-term results of the project (i.e., specific positive changes that will arise due to its implementation) and beneficiaries who will be able to use these results | The expected results of the project implementation will be: |
| Content of work |
| holding a press conference to inform the public about the implementation of this project in the city |
| preparation of the technical base for the “hotline” |
| establishing functional contacts with representatives of local authorities and heads of housing and communal enterprises |
| studying public opinion on the quality and specifics of the provision of housing and communal services, analysis of the results, preparation of information and recommendation products |
| analysis of the regulatory framework, analysis of the market by economic and marketing characteristics |
| professional analysis of local regulatory documents governing the housing services market |
| organization and holding of a round table for the purpose of discussing local regulatory documents that will regulate the housing services market |
| preparation of draft regulatory documents and/or amendments and additions to them |
| lobbying and adoption of documents |
| information campaign on the specifics of regulatory support and economic characteristics of the housing services market |
| providing legal and marketing consultations to business structures – market participants |
| providing consultations to public associations of homeowners on opportunities for interaction with service providers, consumer rights, and mutual responsibility of consumers and service providers |
| formation and updating of a database on existing house committees and other public associations of homeowners |
| initiation and methodological assistance in creating a coordinating body of house committees and associations of co-owners, development of functioning mechanisms |
| preparation and holding of a series of consultative meetings on the regulatory and legal foundations of the housing services market functioning |
| analysis of results, monitoring the effectiveness of project implementation, analysis of errors, preparation of analytical and recommendation literature and other products |
| dissemination of experience in other cities of Ukraine |