Homeless Family Overlooked During Housing Alocation in Armenian Village

Armenian villager claims he won't leave the Aragatsotn regional administration until his family is provided with living accommodation. Speaking to Epress.am, Arayik Sardaryan said his family “have nowhere to live,” and he, together with his wife and two children, has to stay at his relatives' house in the village of Tsaghkahovit. Monday afternoon the family of four went to the Governor's office with a demand of a house and plan to come back to the administration until authorities fulfill their demand.

“One of my kids is mentally ill. How much longer can I stay with an ill child at other people's home?” Sardaryan said. On December 31, 2015, he added, the Aragatsotn Governor's office, the Tsaghkahovit village head, and Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan allocated houses to the victims of the [19]88 earthquake living in mobile homes; however, there were only 10 such families, and the rest of the houses were to be assigned to socially vulnerable families. 

“I saw in the lists that these houses were allocated to people who did not need them. There were even those who were not originally from Tsaghkahovit and put the houses up for sale after getting them,” the protester stated.

Having learned that the accommodation allocation had been completed, Sardaryan went to the Governor's office to find out why his “extremely vulnerable” family had been overlooked: “Governor [Sargis Sahakyan] told me to write an appeal to the Prosecutor's office. He left without answering any of my questions, so I plan to stay at his waiting room until I'm provided with a house.”

When contacted by Epress.am for comment over Sardaryan's protest, the press service of the Governor's office insisted they were “unfamiliar with the issue.” Officials also assured that the houses had, first and foremost, been allocated to those affected by the earthquake and then to families in need. 

“Special research is conducted to decide to whom to allocate these apartments. There is a government decree; if [Sardaryan] was not provided with a house, then he must have not been suitable for one," the press service said.