Living in Kiev during EURO 2012

Hi all,

As many people from European countries write on various travel forums about problems with staying in Kiev during EURO 2012, I have decided to check, if it is really so.
They say all hotels have been booked and hostels/camp sites also charge dear for their services. Indeed, I came across a number of booked hostels and also a hostel offering a bed for more than 100 USD per night which was quite shocking for me :) kiev is not so popular as Paris, Rome or even Budapest, so this situation seems unfair to me.
Is there a way to settle here for those hot June weeks? I am sure there is. If you wnat to come here for a couple of weeks in June, you should start looking for options today. From my point of view there are several ones:

1. Living in a small town in a suburb of Kiev or even a city in a neighbouring region like Zhitomir or Chernihiv. This option is definitely cheaper, but it is also time-taking and Kiev is still quite a large city, so traffic jams are almost 100% guaranteed in rush hours.
2. Living in a tent somewhere in the nature. Places around Kiev are great in summer, so you will definitely enjoy your stay in some locations out of the city, but prices for food etc. are not really lower than in the city itself. I know that in towns like Brovary or Boyarka you can buy everything for similar prices, as in Kiev. So you can find a nice place to stay, but you might not see anything interesting there.
3. There is an option to rent a room/flat with locals. This one seems to be the best for me, since I rent a flat myself.
There are 10 districts in Kiev and the choice of flats is really huge. I can see only few problems: lack of trust and language barrier. First one is a real proble, because I have lived here for 4 years and once I was cheated by the owner. I wanted to rent a flat for a long term, but in a month I was asked to leave and so I couldn't return my deposit that is usually charged for long-term apartment rent. Now I see it was my mistake: I should have judged the owner by appearance. She was a poor girl with a child and I didn't care about her job, though it was also an important indicator.
However, my next renting experience was great: I found a flat that was never rented before with good transport connections. So when you go to Kiev, you should check web sites containing private ads with flats for rent, because it can help you really save your money.
That's why to rent a flat I would recommend searching for an English-speaking flat owner in the Web and I believe there are many such owners at present, at least in Kiev.
And when you secure your accomodation, you will really enjoy your stay here - there's much to see :)

(moderated: no free advert + please post in the section Housing in Kiev)