Homeless in Vanadzor expelled from their temporary shelters with nowhere to go

# 1 area of temporary shelters in Vanadzor has been sold and 40 homeless family members are in danger of being forced out of their home. The cases of many of them are currently being tried in Court. According to HCA-Vanadzor lawyer Haykuhi Harutyunyan, the sale was carried out illegally.

“The mayor and Avagani members have exceeded their authorizations by selling the area, which were previously given to the landlords for rent”, she stated. According to Vanadzor citizens residing in the area, the territory was divided among the city millionaires.

“Approximately 50-60 families reside here, some of them have homeless status and some of them don’t. Everyone is at risk of being expelled from their dwellings. It is not specified where they should go; however, it is stated that they have to vacant the area within a certain time frame, because there are new owners”. The residents were informed of this fact by the www.news.am  correspondent during the interview. “Based on the verdict, a number of families have been forced out:   60 of them still remain, but since they have nowhere to go, they are struggling for the protection of their own rights. Some of them have said “that they have tried to force me out several times”, but they didn’t succeed. They even beat a disabled person and caused physical damage to babies and women”, noted resident Eghisabek Kirakosyan.  According to him, the area was sold in an action, and that the residents were unaware of it.  Some of them had previously asked if the Vanadzor Municipality would be willing to sell the area of their temporary dwellings, but their request was refused.  Later they were informed that the area had been sold.  The buyers, according to the residents, are close friends of Samvel Darbinyan.

Very few people residing in temporary shelters believe that they will be living in normal flats in 1-2 years. In 2009 they were promised that the issue of homelessness would be solved. Currently, the deadline is 2013.

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