A new body – the Housing Policy Office – has appeared in the structure of Lviv City Council. Although it is officially presented as a step towards the development of social housing, the real motives raise more and more questions.
Journalist Irina Marushkina draws attention to the fact that legislative changes have opened the way for local authorities to directly participate in development. This means that city authorities can not only regulate the market, but also become a player in it.
In Lviv’s case, this sets a dangerous precedent: a structure controlled by Andriy Sadovyy potentially gets the opportunity to set the rules and participate in business at the same time. This concentration of influence calls into question fair competition.
Against this background, the intensification of conflicts over development in the suburbs does not look accidental. There are reasons to believe that we are talking about preparations for a large-scale redistribution of land resources.
Thus, the creation of a new office may not be a social project, but another element of the system of control over the property market in Lviv.
