The government claims to have housed more than half of the 100,000 or so refugees in hotels, disused public buildings and empty village houses. It says the others have told government officials that they will stay with their relatives or have other places of residence in Armenia.
However, there is growing evidence of a large number of refugees remaining homeless after the mass exodus of Karabakh’s population that began two weeks ago. Activists of two Yerevan-based nongovernmental organization spotted such people sleeping in their cars or even the streets of the Armenian border town of Goris before deciding to open a temporary shelter for them.
The municipal administration of Artashat, a town 30 kilometers south of Yerevan, agreed to make one of the local school gyms available to the NGOs called Fist-2020 and Smart Armenia. The latter provide the refugees staying there with hot meals and other essential items on a daily basis.
Marcus Azatian, the Fist-2020 founder, said the charities initially hoped that the refugees will spend a few days in the shelter before finding other accommodation. However, only about 20 of the 114 beds placed in the gym were vacated in the past week, according to him.
“At some point, we will tell people that they have 10 days to leave this place so that they look for homes a bit more actively,” Azatian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
He confirmed that for security reasons many of the refugees are refusing government offers of free housing in mostly rural communities close to Armenia’s volatile border with Azerbaijan. Exorbitant rent prices in and around Yerevan are seriously complicating their search for alternative housing. And more affordable homes often lack basic amenities.
“There are homes [available for rent] but they are in poor condition … They may have no running water or bathroom,” said Robert Avagian, a Karabakh Armenian man staying in the Artashat shelter with four other family members.
Anya Safarian, a 78-year-old schoolteacher from the Karabakh town of Askeran, is stuck there with her son, daughter and three grandchildren. They have no relatives or other contacts in Armenia.
“People here are nice and they treat us well,” said Safarian. “But until when? We feel ashamed when they bring us food.”
The government is due to give every refugee 50,000 drams ($125) per month for housing expenses. Also, the United States, the European Union and some of its member states have pledged tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Karabakh refugees. It is not yet clear whether some of that money will also be used for their housing needs.