Nearly 800 Million Dram Certificates Distributed to Refugees from Azerbaijan

A new batch of housing purchase certificates has been handed over to families displaced from Azerbaijan and left homeless for 30 years. To reduce the likelihood of the spread of the coronavirus and considering that the beneficiaries are mainly elderly refugees, employees of the Migration Service personally delivered the certificates to their residences. In total, certificates amounting to 796 million 835 thousand drams have already been distributed to the beneficiaries, as reported by the Armenian Migration Service.

On November 21, 2019, the Government adopted decisions related to the redistribution of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2019 and amendments to the decision N 1515-N of December 27, 2018, including the provision of housing purchase certificates through the allocated funding from the annual state budget of the Republic of Armenia.

Thus, housing purchase certificates are being provided to 112 families displaced and left homeless from Azerbaijan. Specifically, around 1.5 billion drams have been allocated for the implementation of the program. The period for acquiring housing through the certificate is set for one year.

The work to address the housing issues of families forcibly displaced from the Republic of Azerbaijan between 1988-1992 has been prioritized due to the considerable amount of financial resources required. The Migration Service of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure has focused on the administrative districts of Yerevan (Ajapnyak, Avan, Malatia-Sebastia, Norq-Marash, Kanaker-Zeytun), including properties privately owned but occupied by these displaced families.

The inclusion of privately owned shelters (such as the “Sebastia” hotel, “Nairi” hotel, and dormitories owned by “Interrimini” LLC) stems from the daily risk of homelessness faced by these families, as legal protective mechanisms are lacking when property owners demand their eviction from these temporary shelters. Consequently, the housing issues of families displaced from Azerbaijan are being fully and definitively resolved in the administrative districts of Yerevan.