PROBLEM OF HOUSING, AND HOW IT IS SOLVED
Laura Grigorian
Azat Artsakh, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh
Oct 7 2006
One of the important components of the social policy in
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is housing. A great number of villages
were destroyed during shelling. The population of other villages was
displaced, and the villages were ruined. For several years now the
government and benefactors have been funding repair and construction
of houses in these villages. The problem is different in Stepanakert.
A great number of refugees moved to Stepanakert, who did not have
houses, plus the families of killed freedom fighters and the disabled
of the Artsakh war. As long ago as in the 1969-1970s it was almost
impossible to get a flat in Stepanakert, and it is clear that the
newly-established republic cannot afford to build houses for everyone
for free like in the Soviet times, therefore it attends to the
socially insecure families mainly in the framework of a free housing
policy. Nevertheless, according to Armen Hakobian, the head of the
department of housing, public utilities of the City Hall, there is a
way out. There is a program on allocating free plot of land to build a
house on the application of the citizen. Those who can afford to build
a house, including on a loan, accept this offer and are checked out
of the lists of the free housing policy. Armen Hakobian also informed
that 184 families of killed freedom fighters are registered for the
free housing policy of the government. The head of the department of
housing and public utilities said although every year the government
provides some families with apartments, their number grows for some
reasons, such as new members in the family, social problems, etc. The
number of people registered in this program also grows because now
most people move from villages to the capital to find jobs and after
renting a house for three years they apply for an apartment.