Housing programme for forcibly displaced people to be presented next  month - vice-premier 

ArmInfo.The program for providing housing for internally displaced persons from Artsakh will be  presented to the government for discussion in April, Deputy Prime Minister and coordinator of the Humanitarian Center Tigran Khachatryan said on March 28 at a Cabinet meeting.

According to him, in order for the implementation of the program to  be as problem-free and smooth as possible, numerous discussions were  held both in the Cabinet of Ministers and with non-governmental  organizations. Discussions were also organized with representatives  of forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh. <There is not  much left, the main questions are clear, the difficulties are also  clear.  This is a very large-scale project, we are talking about  providing apartments for 25-30 thousand families," Khachatryan said,  once again emphasizing that not all families will be able to be  offered an apartment or a house at the first stage, so they will have  to establish a certain sequence of stages.

Khachatryan announced the possibility of implementing a housing  program for forcibly displaced citizens from Artsakh who received RA  citizenship at the end of February this year. According to him, the  RA authorities will provide them with assistance in the amount of a  fixed amount per each family member.  Financial resources will be  available for the purchase or construction of an apartment or house.  After 10 years of living in this house or apartment, ownership will  pass to this family. As the deputy chairman pointed out,  theoretically, more than 25 thousand families could become  beneficiaries of the program, and the average amount of financial  assistance could reach 12-18 million drams.

Apparently the program will be implemented within 5 years. <According  to our rough estimates, 110-120 thousand people can take part in the  program, at an average rate of 3 million drams per person. Then the  total amount of assistance will be 400 billion drams," he said. At  the same time, assistance provided to minor family members will be  free of charge, and payments by adult family members will not begin  immediately. They will be given time to adapt and find employment.  The issue of payments from pensioners is still under discussion, he  noted. <If after 10 years in a family, conditionally, there are two  adults and three minors, out of 15 million drams, 9 million drams  will not be returned, and after paying 6 million drams, the family  will be able to dispose of this housing as its own property after 10  years> , - he said. At the same time, if by the end of the 10-year  period the family does not have the funds to repay the amount, it  will not be evicted from this apartment, but will not have ownership  rights, and accordingly, the right to dispose of this property.

The beneficiaries of the program will be not only internally  displaced persons who arrived in Armenia after September 23 last  year, but also those who moved to Armenia before or after the 44-day  war of 2020, including from Hadrut, Martuni and Shushi.