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NUMBER OF HOMELESS IS UNKNOWN

Social

Thousand families will meet the New Year in the streets in 2008. Among such families is Violeta Grigoryan’s family, who moved to Armenia from Azerbaijan in 1989.

They lived with relatives when they moved, then they hired an apartment and were dismissed from the state program to provide the refugees with shelters. “Yes, we were registered as refugees, but the state first provided those families who lived in administrative buildings. My husband was working then and we were waiting for our turn”, told Violeta.

Violeta’s husband died this year and her family appeared in a serious situation. Violeta does not work and the family lives on the children’s and her mother’s pension and the relative, who is hosting them, is going to sell the apartment. “I don’t know what to do”, says Violeta.

The state allots 815 million drams for providing the refugees with certificates for buying apartments. “First the Government provides those who live in administrative buildings and in wagons, and then provides those who live with relatives or hire an apartment. We will solve their problems after solving the problems of those who live in administrative buildings”, said Ara Harutyunyan, Head of the Refugee Section of State Department of Migration of the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration.

In 2003 the Government counted 3400 families living in administrative buildings, who were allotted certificates for buying apartments but only 60 percent of them managed to buy apartments, other 40 percent remained without apartments. In the result of rise in price, certificates were depreciated and many could not buy apartments, thus again the second group of homeless refugees have to wait until these people are provided with shelters. The Government is mainly engaged in the problems of those who live in administrative building and is indifferent toward those who live with relatives or hire apartments. Even the exact number of homeless refugees is not defined. “Ekolur” NGO has made a film “Your pain is my problem”, telling about Violeta Grigoryan’s family and about other homeless refugees. The authors of the film hope that this film will help the refugees’ families.