There’s a building located at Hoktemberyan Street #7 in Charentsavan next to some factories. The building’s outer walls are completely blackened and the windows broken. The only proof that people actually live there are the clotheslines hanging outside and the pipes sticking out here and there belching out smoke.

The residents of this 60 year-old town call this former dormitory the ‘black colony’ (“sev gaghut”). No one really knows when this name stuck. Some say the name comes from the fact that during the “cold and dark” years the residents of the building smoked fish there to sell and as a result the walls turned black. Dormitory residents themselves say that when the town was being built the Soviet authorities at the time saw fit to employ prisoners as laborers who were housed at the same ‘black colony’ building. This building, due to its location close to the factories and removed from residential sections of the town, was viewed as a convenient detention facility. From that time onwards the building was nicknamed the ‘black colony’. The word ‘colony’ also refers to the existing conditions in the building; that is if they can be described as such.

Only a few rooms in the three-story building are actually inhabited, the rest are infested with vermin. Residents say that during the summer months they have frogs and snakes as neighbors. The walls and windows are cracked in places and the roof has partially collapsed. Whenever it rains, or during the spring thaw, water drips right through these openings. The residents state that, “ The roofing frames have sagged. If you come back in the spring the entire building will have collapsed. One day they’ll find us underneath the rubble.” The building has no municipal services like gas or water. Neither is there a sewage system. Residents have built a wooden outhouse in the courtyard that everybody uses. These 21st century inhabitants so point out, “ But look on the bright side. We have electricity around the clock.”

According to figures at the Charentsavan Passport Division there are 52 adults registered as residents in the building but that only a portion of these reside in the living quarters “legally belonging to them.” One of the residents said that, “We don’t even know many of those registered here even if we saw them. Given the unbearable living conditions many are just renters.” Saribek Stepanyan, Director of the “Nare 99” property board that services the building, says that there are 13 resident families. The only actual contact with the building’s inhabitants is when they are given a residency certificate. Mr. Stepanyan says that given that the building doesn’t enjoy any municipal services no maintenance fees are collected. He states that his office assists the residents whenever possible. “We’ve given them 20 rolls of tar paper to patch the roof with. We’ve provided doors and windows too. Whatever problems they come to us with we try to help out.” While the residents have actually received such assistance, it doesn’t really solve the problem. But they can’t really ask for more since the property board itself is strapped for resources.

Hakob Shahgaldyan, the Mayor of Charentsavan, states that, “ We’re all aware of the problems that exist at ‘black colony’. But it would take a third of our budget, some 200-300,000 drams, to fix the situation. The existing building needs to be totally demolished and a new one built. It’s something we can’t tackle without outside assistance. Just imagine what would happen if the 100 million dram allocation we get from the state to pave the roads, repair roofs and supply gas to the refugee neighborhoods was instead deployed to repair the living quarters of a few families. There’d be no allocation! Besides, there’s another dormitory in our town in the same sorry state. The best solution would be for us to allocate small amounts year by year to address this issue.” It was with a degree of reluctance that the Mayor confessed that the dormitory was classified as a 2nd degree emergency structure. He noted, “If the building deteriorates into a 3rd degree state all the residents would have to be relocated. But the community doesn’t possess the resources to do so. We don’t have any additional housing for them.”

Residents of the ‘black colony’ have long ago grown tired of voicing their problems; they’ve knocked on all the appropriate doors. They also have grown tired of talking to journalists; so many who have come and gone without any noticeable change. Armineh Serobyan, a ‘black colony’ resident says that, “ I’ve been here since 1993. I live with my three children in just the one room. My husband used to work at the Residency Department and we were granted a two-month temporary dormitory allowance to be followed by an actual apartment. Then the refugees arrived from the Karabakh war and we were knocked back down the waiting list for apartments.” Volodya Panyan, a 25 year building resident, has long since given up any hopes that their problems will be solved. They don’t even pin any hopes on the upcoming presidential elections. Mr. Panyan says, “ Who should we turn to? Who considers us to be human beings anyway?”

Vardush Duryan, whose been living in the building for 18 years with the status of a ‘refugee’, received a purchase authorization for a three room apartment in October, 2006. “Three rooms were appraised at $6,400 but I still haven’t been able to purchase one room. I’ve handed back the authorization certificate and have been placed back on the waiting list. I had found a house for $8,000 but I couldn’t afford it. Nobody helped out. I have three children aged 10-15. None of us work. My husband occasionally gets day jobs paying 2,000 drams. We get by on social assistance.” Her children attend school but their status as ‘black colony’ residents inhibits them wherever they go. “All the kids are ashamed to bring friends over the house because they’d see the way we live.” V. Duryan lamented.

Armineh Serobyan, another mother of three children, remains hopeful however and positively points out that, “The new mayor has done a lot for us. True, he hasn’t given us a new home, but he’s responded to any problem we bring to him.”

Mayor Shahgaldyan takes a more sober and realistic approach to the matter at hand. “The government is well informed about the existing problem. But we must also understand the government’s predicament. It just doesn’t have the resources at hand to assist these few families. Dormitories like the one here are to be found in all communities. I’ve met with these people and I know what conditions they’re living in. We just don’t have the means to solve the problem.” noting that given the present state of the town’s budget he didn’t see any solution to the problem in the next few years.

Kotayk