Sadovyi’s new office is set up: another step towards controlling the housing market in Lviv

While Lviv was still recovering from the latest urban planning scandals, Andriy Sadovyi’s team quietly created a new structural unit, the Office of Housing Policy. The decision went almost unnoticed, without much public discussion.

According to journalist Iryna Marushkina, the new office may become another tool for the city government to influence the housing market. Formally, it is about the development of municipal or “social” housing, but in fact it opens up the possibility for the city hall to enter the development business.

Critics believe that if such a scenario materializes, the city controlled by Andriy Sadovyi will be able to dictate the rules of the game to developers. Given previous scandals in the field of urban planning, this raises serious concerns about market monopolization.

It is possible that the parallel conflicts around Sokilnyky, LAZ and other territories are part of a broader strategy of redistributing influence. After all, launching communal housing requires resources, primarily land.

As a result, the creation of the new office does not look like a social initiative, but rather another step towards strengthening the city hall’s control over the city’s key financial flows.