Officials exploit “loopholes” in e-Oselya to buy housing at subsidized rates

Journalists at Bihus.Info identified a number of officials who declared receiving a preferential mortgage loan under the state program e-Oselya. Despite the program’s conditions, none of them actually needed new housing, and some even received the benefit while their families already owned several expensive apartments in Kyiv. This is reported in a Bihus.Info segment.

The state program e-Oselya was launched in October 2022. The program was created from the outset to enable citizens who do not own housing to purchase it with a mortgage at very low interest rates. To participate in e-Oselya, one must meet several criteria, the main one being either the complete absence of owned housing or ownership of a property with a small area that is insufficient for the family.

Residential complex in Lviv where the prosecutor’s wife bought an apartment through e-Oselya

For example, the wife of Andriy Nosovych, head of the Kalush District Prosecutor’s Office, received a subsidized mortgage at 3% from the state. The woman previously owned a large 100-square-meter apartment in Frankivsk and an even larger house in the suburbs measuring 350 m². Shortly before the mortgage was processed, the owners of these properties suddenly changed: the house was transferred to their son, and the apartment was sold at a suspiciously low price. A few months later, the prosecutor’s wife received a preferential loan for a new apartment in Lviv.

The right to obtain a loan at the minimum 3% under this program is limited to certain categories of people: contract servicemembers, law enforcement officers, scientists, teachers, and medical workers. Lesia Nosovych received income in recent years from sole proprietorship activity and her own company, but in the year she received the loan she took a job as a medical worker at the municipal “Center for Primary Medical Care.” Notably, she sold her Frankivsk apartment at a reduced price to the daughter of the head of that institution, which may indicate that she obtained the status of “medical worker” not by coincidence.

Residential complex “Elyseum” in Kyiv, where a judge’s wife purchased an apartment

A second example is Ihor Huleykov, a judge of the Supreme Court. Last year he declared income of over 3,7 million hryvnias. His wife, Iryna Huleykova, works at the Book and Printing Museum of Ukraine. It was her status as a research worker that allowed her to acquire a two-room apartment in the capital’s residential complex “Elyseum” at ultra-preferential 3%. However, just a month after the mortgage was finalized, Huleykova opened a sole proprietorship whose main activity is “leasing and operation of own or leased real estate.” According to Huleykov himself, his wife rents out the apartment purchased through e-Oselya, which directly indicates that the housing obtained through the program, designed as a social benefit, was clearly not much needed by the family.

Private house of Ihor Huleykov in the village of Dmytrivka

Moreover, Iryna Huleykova took out the mortgage in the summer of 2024, and already in January of the following year the judge’s mother gifted him a plot of land near Kyiv. Construction of a private house on that plot was in full swing. Ihor Huleykov registered ownership the following month.

Residential complex “Greenville Park,” where Serhiy Tiulyeniev — director of the SSC ISE — bought an apartment

Serhiy Tiulyeniev has held the position of director of the Kharkiv Bokarius Forensic Research Institute since 2023. Last year he decided to purchase, through e-Oselya, an apartment of 65 m² in the expensive Kyiv residential complex “Greenville Park.” Although Tiulyeniev does not own other housing, his ex-wife owns multiple apartments in Kyiv: a three-room apartment of 120 m² in the Rusanivska Havanh complex and, for example, two more apartments in the elite Park Avenue VIP complex, purchased in 2018 and 2019. Those last properties could now be worth roughly half a million dollars.

Despite the divorce, the director of the Kharkiv institute continues to declare the woman as “a person with whom he cohabits but is not married.” He states that she lent him 2 million hryvnias allegedly for the down payment on the e-Oselya apartment. Journalists have previously encountered similar cases in instances of fictitious divorces among officials.

Bihus.Info journalists drew attention to these figures because demand for the e-Oselya program is rapidly increasing. Along with that, queues at banks are growing — people who truly need housing and have full rights to participate in the program can wait months for financing. Meanwhile, preferential loans are often obtained by those for whom this assistance was not intended.

At the same time, Ukrfinzhytlo is discussing possible changes to the terms of the e-Oselya program. In particular, they are considering limits on the borrower’s income as well as reducing the square footage of housing eligible for the loan.