Summary of needs
In 2025, an estimated 6.9 million people in Ukraine need shelter and non-food items (SNFI) assistance, including 5.2 million non-displaced war-affected people and 1.7 million internally displaced people. The ongoing war is causing the increased severity of shelter and NFI needs among Ukrainian households, particularly those residing in urban locations in front-line oblasts in the east of the country. The World Bank’s Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment report outlines that at least 10 per cent of the total housing stock in the country is damaged or destroyed. Displaced people are particularly insecure in terms of housing arrangements. According to Ukraine’s Energy Coordination Group, targeting of energy infrastructure by the Russian Federation has led to more than 60 per cent of total capacity loss, implying severe challenges for vulnerable people in the winter.
Response strategy
The SNFI Cluster has three correlated objectives aligned with the two HNRP strategic objectives and designed to address priority needs for i) emergency shelter and non-food items assistance, ii) winter assistance, and iii) adequate housing, linking activities to longer-term sustainable solutions.
SNFI activities prioritize ‘life-saving’ humanitarian support to meet the needs of vulnerable Ukrainians exposed to war-induced shocks and adverse winter weather conditions. The Cluster’s focus is on delivering coordinated emergency SNFI response and timely contingency planning and ensuring the provision of ‘adequate housing’ – with linkages to longer-term resilient solutions while prioritizing gender and accessibility. SNFI activities will be delivered in a sustainable manner in close collaboration with the authorities, ensuring accountable, inclusive and qualitative programming and adopting a localized approach.
The SNFI Cluster, in alignment with the Government and HNRP strategic focus, is concentrating support towards the priority front-line oblasts. Three years after the full-scale invasion, the Cluster is conscientiously adopting a multi-year strategic approach, transitioning core responsibilities to national or development frameworks where possible. In 2025, the Cluster will no longer support a dedicated hub in the west of the country and will focus on strengthening the north-east, south and east sub-hub locations while maintaining countrywide emergency preparedness and response capacity. The Cluster will develop training/self-help materials to address the adverse impacts of the war on the construction sector.
The Cluster’s response monitoring tools continue to evolve. The Shelter Information Damage Assessment and Response database provides up-to-date information on the extent of damage at the house/apartment level and is continually evolving with over 80,000 address records available and positive collaboration with the Government of Ukraine is ongoing. The RAIS+ system aligns with the humanitarian ecosystem with reporting links to ActivityInfo and HNRP outcomes. The system allows coordination of information gathering, internal NGO reporting and deduplication of assisted people at the activity level. The system was developed to enhance the effectiveness of aid distribution.
Shelter Cluster activity response modalities include in-kind, cash or mixed activities, depending on the context and state of local markets. The Cluster’s total projected cash response in 2025 is 41 per cent. The in-kind modality (59 per cent) also includes contractor-based service delivery, which is necessary for high-risk construction projects. An activity response matrix and detailed handbook are developed, and endorsed by SAG members. This compiles all necessary information for planning, delivering, monitoring and reporting of Shelter Cluster activities in one place.
The SNFI Cluster collaborates with the Protection Cluster and the Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Working Group, assisting people in securing housing ownership documents and enhancing their tenure security. SNFI works closely with CCCM through the refurbishment of collective sites. Health and WASH clusters concerns are addressed by implementing emergency repairs to social infrastructure and retrofitting collective sites to meet specific needs, such as accommodating older adults and ensuring adequate space for people with disabilities. Sustainable shelter solutions require close collaboration with livelihood actors, especially as MSNA findings indicate that a significant proportion of families face severe challenges in both sectors.
Targeting and prioritization
In 2025, Shelter Cluster partners will aim to assist 3 million people, 98 per cent of whom are in prioritized raions. To determine SNFI priority population estimates, a multitude of sources were explored. The primary determinant was the operational capacity of partners, in alignment with the Shelter Cluster’s severity score, along with humanitarian access and population density.
Overall, 98 per cent of resources are dedicated to prioritized raions. The focus remains on the eastern and southern front-line areas, comprising nine priority oblasts. The allocation of modalities (in-kind, cash, voucher) to specific activities is based on partner preferences and capabilities, local market feasibility, and the suitability of each modality for the given activity.
Cost of response
The SNFI Cluster will require $545 million to assist 3 million people. The Cluster used activity-based costing to determine the financial requirements for the response. In this methodology, SNFI activities are assigned an average unit cost, which is then applied to a pre-defined caseload. Calculation of unit costs involved an examination of the expenses associated with comparable activities from last year, price fluctuations (actual and anticipated inflation), and costs revealed by partners from the planning and tender phases. Additionally, the process draws on deliberations within various technical working groups, insights from the Rental Market Assessment, findings from the JMMI (SNFI cost analysis), IOM’s assessment of solid fuel expenses, and consultation with the Government of Ukraine Ministries and others.
The SNFI Cluster regularly updates its reference prices provided in its Activity Handbook through a combination of sources – consultation with cluster partners, Joint Market Monitoring and MSNA data. 2025 HNRP prices were updated to account for inflation of goods and services. Indirect costs are not taken into account in the costing.
