Artsakh

On November 3, 2011 US Ambassador John Heffern distributed keys to new residents of the Collective Housing Center for former refugees in Kasakh. The center was built within the frameworks of the Refugee Livelihood and Social Support Program implemented by Save the Children with funding from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. The newly constructed building has 22 apartments, including six one-room, 14 two-room and two three-room, each providing individual heating, running hot/cold water, and basic kitchen fixtures. 20 families who resided in the collective center on Artsakh Street in Yerevan and in former prison cells in Kasakh — all of them refugees or former refugees awaiting permanent housing — were selected for relocation to the center. As per agreement with the local government, the remaining two apartments will be provided to extremely vulnerable local families of Kasakh village. Given that the apartments will be provided as temporary shelter to improve extremely poor living conditions of refugee families, Save the Children reached agreement with the RA Ministry of Territorial Administration that the relocated refugee and former refugee families will remain in the Government’s list of beneficiaries entitled for receiving permanent housing in the future, known as Government decree 747-N on priority program of providing refugees from Azerbaijan with apartments.