The Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) has moved to the active phase of preparation for the heating season, focusing on the most vulnerable groups of the population — elderly single citizens and people with disabilities. As Marina Honda, Deputy Head of the KCSA, explained, the city is not just counting potential recipients of aid but identifying the specific needs of each individual: determining who requires support at home and who, in the event of power or heat outages, will need temporary relocation to a safe facility.
How many people are in the social system's focus
According to the city hall, more than 160,000 adults and 16,000 children with disabilities live in the capital, and another 26,000 elderly single Kyiv residents are registered with the social system and receive social services. However, Honda emphasizes that being in the database does not automatically mean a need for relocation: the city is building an individual map of needs to avoid overloading institutions and depriving people of their familiar environment unnecessarily.
What exactly does the city offer in a crisis situation
For those who remain at home, the plan includes meals, "warm kits," and additional visits from social workers. For those who would be safer relocating, places are being prepared in social institutions, geriatric care homes, medical facilities, and specially prepared city premises. Currently, more than 1,200 single pensioners and about 400 children with disabilities have expressed a desire to relocate temporarily; the official clarified that this is not the final figure, as verification and assessment of each person's readiness to move are ongoing.
Lesson from last winter: why everything is done in advance
According to Honda, the key takeaway from the previous heating season was the necessity of knowing the actual whereabouts of a person who may need help: a significant portion of residents formally live in homes but are not registered with the social protection department or territorial centers, meaning "the system doesn't see them." Furthermore, last winter saw more than 3,000 refusals to relocate temporarily, even when accommodation and transport were already prepared. Therefore, the city is now clarifying in advance whether a person has relatives they can move in with or if they are ready to use KCSA facilities.
Contradictory data
The original source contains inconsistencies in the list of institutions where people might be relocated: one fragment mentions "social institutions, geriatric care homes, medical facilities, or specially prepared medical facilities," another mentions "social centers," and in Honda's quote, there is an obvious repetition ("medical facilities or medical facilities or specially prepared medical facilities"). This is likely an editorial/quote error, but it creates ambiguity regarding the specific types of premises included in the plan. The figures for categories (160k adults, 16k children with disabilities, 26k single elderly) do not contradict each other, as they describe overlapping but distinct groups.
What is already ready for the season
The Kyiv City Center for Social Services has already created conditions for the stay of children with disabilities and single elderly people, city geriatric care homes have allocated additional places, and two city rehabilitation centers are ready to accept children and adults with disabilities for crisis stays. To deploy additional places, the city is purchasing beds, blankets, and pillows in advance and calculating food reserves for a minimum period. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko previously stated that the capital would complete the main winter preparation activities by the start of the heating season; currently, about 50% of the work has been completed.
