Housing issue
Pursuant to the procedure approved by the RoA Government Decree No. 404 on Privatization of Housing Premises in Dormitories Owned by the State Budgetary Entities to Persons Forcibly Displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1988-1992 and Granted the Armenian Citizenship.
Housing premises in dormitories are privatized at no charge to persons forcibly displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1988-1992, granted the Armenian citizenship, and living there for more than 3 years.
Summary data from June 2019 show that in Armenia 882 families forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan need housing, including 628 in Yerevan and 254 in provinces.
By its Decree No. 330 dated August 9, 1997, the RoA Government approved the procedure for Registration of Refugees in the Republic of Armenia in Need of Housing and Provision of Housing to address the housing problem of persons forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan. According to this decree, the registration of refugees in need of housing is done at the place of their actual residence by territorial social service offices (TSSO) based on an application about the need of housing submitted by the refugee.
Based on the roasters of the TSSOs and the Municipality of Yerevan updated in March-April, 2019, the number of refugee families in need of housing in Armenia is 2,589, including 1,070 in Yerevan and 1,519 in provinces.
On November 21, 2019 the Government approved draft decrees on Reallocation in the Republic of Armenia Government Budget for 2019 and Amendments in the Republic of Armenia Government Decree No. 1515-N dated December 27, 2018 and on the Housing Provision Program through Apartment Purchase Vouchers Financed from the Republic of Armenia Annual Government Budget.
These drafts address the housing problem for 112 homeless families of forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan. The implementation of this program requires 1,496.260.000 Armenian drams, including additional running costs (3.860,000 Armenian drams for labor force, postal services and printing of apartment purchase vouchers).
The program will be implemented by signing contracts with the families of forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan and issuing apartment purchase vouchers. The terms and conditions for issuing the apartment purchase vouchers and the payment procedure are set forth, and the deadline for buying an apartment with the voucher is fixed at 1 year without any extension options. The adoption of these decrees guarantees the indispensable constitutional right to have a decent life to 112 families and solves 30 years old housing problems.
At the same time, this is a primary phase of addressing the housing problem for families forcibly displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan in 1988-1992. Taking into account significant financial resources needed, it was found appropriate to address the problem of housing for families forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan not in the framework of a single program but rather to divide it into relevant subprograms with clear priorities and phases, which would be more realistic to implement. At this stage we considered dormitories in the administrative districts of Yerevan (Ajapnyak, Avan, Malatia-Sebastia, Kanaker-Zeytoun) and also included private buildings currently occupied by families forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan. Private buildings (Sebastia hotel, Nairi hotel, dormitory owned by Interrimini LLC) are included due to an everyday danger of them becoming homeless should the private owners of those private shelters require to free the buildings, since there are no effective legal protection mechanisms for these families. As a result, the housing issues for families forcibly displaced from Azerbaijan are being completely and finally solved Yerevan administrative districts one by one.