Polish faith groups battle to take in Ukrainians amid housing crisis

It has been almost three months since Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then more than 6 million people have fled the conflict, with Poland taking in the largest share of refugees — over 3 million.

Although Poland has welcomed Ukrainian refugees, faith groups helping to accommodate them said the country may not be able to sustain the pressure on its housing market.

According to a report by Habitat for Humanity Poland, the country was already facing a serious shortage of affordable housing as at 2015. The report found that there were 360 homes per 1,000 Poles and the deficit of affordable housing units stood between 600,000 to 1.5 million. By the end of 2021, this deficit widened to 2.2 million units, as estimated by PwC Poland.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has further increased the demand for accommodation across the country. With the influx of Ukrainian refugees, faith groups have been renting hotels, flats, and housing refugees in their worship centers.

Maciek Liziniewicz, a pastor from Warsaw’s LIFE Church, said Christian missionary groups have spent over €150,000 ($156,098) on transporting and sheltering over 56,000 refugees. Because of the unavailability of flats, many of the community members from the church are hosting Ukrainian refugees in their homes. Some are housed in attics, basements, or spare bedrooms.

“For now, faith groups and our communities are keeping the crisis from worsening,” he said. “But how long can we continue this? There needs to be a permanent solution.”

Similar concerns are being raised by other faith groups. The Jewish communities in Warsaw and Kraków have hired hotels and rental homes to accommodate the refugees. Rabbi Shalom DovBer Stambler, who leads the Chabad Lubavitch of Poland, said the Jewish community has taken in hundreds of refugees from all faith groups and nationalities without any government support.

“We will do it till we have the resources,” he said.

But real estate experts said the surge in housing demands has led to rising rental prices.

Otodom, a real estate company in Poland reported that the spike in demand has led to at least a 14% increase in average rental prices during the first five weeks of the war. Another report found that flats available for rent dropped by 34-40% nationally and by a whopping 60% in cities such as Kraków and Wroclaw. The real estate service also recorded an increase of 424.5% of clients requesting rental properties since the war started.  

According to Eurostat data, roughly 37% of the population in Poland stays in shared and overcrowded flats — far higher than the European Union average of 18%. Ewelina Staruch, a real estate market analyst at Centrum AMRON, said before the war, there was a shortage ranging from half a million and 3 million apartments with many young adults staying with their parents because of the rising rents and lack of affordable housing.

“This deficit may even deepen due to the settlement of refugees from Ukraine in Poland,” she said, adding that rental rates of newly constructed buildings have risen by 15% to 33% in the last few months. 

In an attempt to make rental flats available and affordable to low-income individuals, the Polish government committed to construct 100,000 apartments in 2016 under the National Housing Program which offers apartments for rent or to buy at subsidized rates. But by the end of 2019, only 15 % of the planned homes had been commissioned.

Joanna Kluzik, a member of Polish Parliament, said the delay in building has been due to a lack of funds.

“Local governments in Poland need money to renovate empty apartments,” she said, adding that local authorities do not want to set up tents as “they believe that refugees should live in relatively comfortable conditions.” 

Piotr Kandyba, councilman of Mazowsze Voivodship in the central-eastern region of Poland, added that though the real estate sector has approached the government to start refurbishing old houses to accommodate refugees, it is difficult to initiate such projects as no one knows how long the war will last and the decision about who will pay for these projects is yet to be made.

“Many Ukrainians hope they can go back to their country soon,” he said.

But Liziniewicz said the slow decision-making process of governments during this unprecedented crisis could hinder the process of creating a sustainable system. He added that the EU should allocate funds to create a whole new refugee support system that would provide housing, schools, and health care.

“They got money,” he said. “We don't think government vision is bold enough to create something beautiful and sustainable for a refugee community who would become self-sustainable as employees and business owners.”

Update, May. 16, 2022: This article has been updated to clarify the amount Christian missionary groups have spent to transport and shelter refugees.