How a Utah businessman and nonprofit built a Ukrainian village in 6 months
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A remarkable scene played out just outside of Kyiv on Thursday when Utah businessman and former professional soccer team owner Dell Loy Hansen walked the grounds of a new housing development for Ukrainians bombed from their homes with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Hansen, who made his wealth as the founder of real estate investment firm Wasatch Group, has partnered with the Utah-based nonprofit To Ukraine With Love over the past year to build hundreds of homes for displaced Ukrainians. Thursday marked a look at a project with even bigger ambitions, one that is providing not just a roof, but hope of a rebuilt Ukraine.
Alongside Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials, Hansen and Svitlana Miller, founder of To Ukraine with Love, toured Hansen Village on Thursday. It’s a multifamily community that was largely made possible by financial donations from Hansen and his partners, round-the-clock construction by Ukrainians hired by the nonprofit, and streamlined zoning efforts supported by Zelenskyy.
The village is expected to eventually house about 1,280 Ukrainians, though its initial phase includes 82 homes for 315 residents. Its second phase will entail 147 homes for 545 residents and the third phase will include 111 homes for 418 residents, according to To Ukraine With Love. It’s slated to house now homeless elderly Ukrainians, war veterans, widows, orphans and those with disabilities.
It will also include medical and emotional care centers as well as physical therapy, art therapy and other services. Future plans also include a school for 600 students, a library, a clubhouse, playgrounds and outdoor gathering spaces.
The village became a reality in a matter of six months, after Miller initially met with Zelenskyy during a Utah delegation’s visit to Ukraine in May, which was the first state trade and humanitarian trip to the country amid Ukraine’s war with Russia.
At the time, To Ukraine With Love’s housing efforts were mostly focused on building modular homes for Ukrainian families who have lost their homes to the war’s destruction. But since then, To Ukraine With Love’s work has grown exponentially into building entire villages and apartment buildings — while also continuing to give modular homes and provide thousands of hot meals a day to Ukrainians in need.
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Soon after Miller met with Zelenskyy in May, she and Hansen reached a deal to purchase 22 acres south of Kyiv for the new village. Then, in June, Miller and Hansen met with Zelenskyy again to discuss future plans for the village — as well as other housing projects in several different cities near Kyiv.
In the wake of those meetings with Zelenskyy, Ukrainian’s government officials offered their full backing and support for zoning changes, vetting of Ukrainians who will receive homes, and other resources, Miller said
“It was only four months and two weeks since the first shovel went into the ground,” Miller told the Deseret News over a Zoom call Thursday after touring the village with Zelenskyy then ushering in the first families into their new homes at the village.
“That’s record time for both the U.S. and Ukraine,” said Miller, who recently moved her nonprofit’s offices from Idaho to Utah. “We’re moving at such a crazy pace, it’s amazing to say we’ve done what’s never been done before.”
Miller added it was gratifying to be able to thank Zelenskyy for his help in making the village possible.
“I am grateful to everyone who works to rebuild our country and cares about people’s needs,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on Instagram. “We will restore everything the occupier has destroyed. Ukraine will never be a country of ruins.”
Even as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to wage on, To Ukraine With Love and Hansen haven’t waited for the war to end before beginning to rebuild. To them, it’s just as important to provide “hope” to a war torn population as it is to give them roofs over their heads, Miller said.
“I will do my best,” Hansen said in a statement posted on the President of Ukraine’s website. “I am glad to have the chance to work with wonderful people in this beautiful country. Ukraine is now fighting for democracy around the world.”
To date, To Ukraine With Love has fielded more than $43.7 million in donations — and counting. Most of those contributions have come from Hansen and his partners, with more coming.
This year — in addition to the Hansen Village — To Ukraine With Love is also slated to house 630 displaced Ukrainians in fully-furnished apartments, specifically internally displaced refugees coming from heavily bombed out cities like Mariupol and Bakhmut. The nonprofit is also building Miracle Village, Ukraine’s first and only senior living community for 162 residents also slated to open this week.
That’s on top of 503 modular homes gifted to Ukrainians, delivered directly to their lots where their homes once stood, 24 built homes and more than 2 million hot meals, according to To Ukraine With Love.
After Zelenskyy’s tour, Miller said it was especially heartwarming to welcome dozens of families to their new homes at Hansen Village.
“It’s a good reminder of why I’m doing this work,” she said. “When you actually meet the people, and they bring their kids and they say, ‘We’re coming from nothing, everything was destroyed’ ... this is a dream come true.”
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