As a result of Azerbaijan’s policy of de-Armenianization, Armenia received 420,000 Armenian refugees during 1988-1992.
According to information conveyed by Armenia’s Migration Service, the number of refugees constituted 12 percent of Armenia’s population at that time. Receiving such a large number of refugees was a challenge for Armenia. Not all of the refugees who came to Armenia continued to remain in the country; a significant portion of them moved to other countries — Russia, European states, the USA, and others. Those refugees who remained in Armenia were placed in buildings of various administrative designation — hospitals, sanatoriums, kindergartens, schools, dormitories, and others.
The refugees’ problems were numerous, but for years the main one continued to be the housing issue. The state did not have the possibility to solve the refugees’ housing problem in its entirety. The program implemented in the direction of providing housing for refugees was carried out in 2005-2008. More than 1,000 housing purchase certificates were provided, but only 700 were able to realize them, that is, to buy a home.
The Migration Service is beginning a new — “Housing Program for Families Displaced from Azerbaijan and Left Homeless.” The basis is the government’s decision, by which those refugee families are defined who to this day live in temporary shelters.
In 2018, a recalculation was carried out once again regarding the refugees’ housing issues, and the following picture was recorded — 895 families across the entire republic — 254 in the provinces, 641 in Yerevan. Since the burden is in Yerevan, the program consequently began from the capital. In the first phase, by government decision, 1.5 billion drams was allocated to solve the housing problem of 112 families in the administrative districts of Ajapnyak, Avan, Malatia-Sebastia, Nork-Marash, and Kanaker-Zeytun.
Next, within the limits of 2.1 billion drams, the housing problem of 180 families is to be solved.
