Ukraine has changed the rules for providing official housing to military personnel: what you need to know

The Cabinet of Ministers has updated the rules for providing military personnel and their family members with official housing. The changes concern years of service, the procedure for making a decision on providing an apartment, issuing a warrant, and requirements for settling families with children.

The new rules are provided for by Cabinet Resolution No. 1035 of August 19, 2026, which amended the Procedure for providing military personnel and their family members with residential premises.

20 years of service will be counted in calendar calculation

One of the important clarifications concerns military personnel with long service.

The government specified that this refers to 20 years or more of calendar service. Accordingly, when applying the relevant provisions of the Procedure, the calendar calculation of the length of service will be taken into account.

Official housing, as before, is provided to military personnel at the place of service.

Who will decide whether to provide a serviceman with an apartment

For most servicemen, the decision to provide official housing will be made by the commander, chief or head of the relevant military unit, body, institution or institution.

If the structure has a housing and operational body, the decision must be coordinated with it.

A separate mechanism is provided for some military formations. In particular, decisions regarding servicemen of the State Special Transport Service will be coordinated with the Service Administration, the National Guard – with the Main Directorate of the National Guard, and the State Border Service – with its Administration.

A special procedure will also apply to the State Special Communications Service, depending on where the serviceman is serving.

It is impossible to move into official housing without a warrant

The government has separately specified the procedure for actually moving into an apartment.

The only basis for moving into the provided official housing is a warrant. Thus, a single decision of the commander or head on providing an apartment is not enough.

Based on the relevant decision, the executive body of the local council or the district state administration in Kyiv or Sevastopol must approve the decision and issue the warrant to the serviceman.

If the apartment is located in a closed military camp, the warrant will be issued by the housing and operational body.

The document will be valid for 30 days from the date of its issuance.

The warrant will indicate the serviceman’s data, place of service, address of the apartment, its area and number of rooms, as well as information about family members.

Children of different sexes over 9 years old cannot be accommodated in the same room

The requirements for the accommodation of family members of a serviceman are also significantly detailed.

According to the new rules, people of different sexes over nine years old are not allowed to live in the same room. An exception is provided for spouses.

Thus, for example, when providing an apartment to a family with a boy and a girl over nine years old, the need for them to live in different rooms must be taken into account.

Separate requirements are provided for people with severe forms of certain chronic diseases. If, due to health conditions, a person cannot live in the same room with other family members, this must also be taken into account when providing housing.

In addition, a room designed for one family cannot be occupied by two or more families or several single individuals.

What will happen if there is no suitable apartment

The government has provided an exception for situations when official housing is urgently needed, but a room that fully meets the established standards is not available.

In extreme cases and with the consent of the serviceman himself, he may be temporarily provided with housing that does not meet all the requirements. In particular, the area may be less than the established norm of 9 square meters per person.

At the same time, consent to temporary residence in such conditions does not deprive the serviceman of the right to receive proper official housing in the future.

So, after the changes, when providing military personnel with housing, not only the availability of a free apartment will be taken into account, but also the composition of the family, the age and gender of children, the health status of residents, and the compliance of the premises with established housing standards.