On May 24, 2007 the Armenian Government passed Bill #616-A according to which the building located at #1 Atabekyan Street in the town of Etchmiadzin  and registered as the Etchmiadzin government college dormitory and which has been housing homeless families since 1988, was handed over to the local municipality.

In the passed decision it is written that, "...with a total area of 2295.3 square meters and with a usable space of 1308 square meters, along with the plot of land needed for its utilization and servicing, to take back the Etchmiadzin 'State College' from the Non-Commercial State Organization and donate it to the Etchmiadzin Municipality, to renovate the structure at the Municipality's expense, to register the locale as residential space and to grant private property rights to the citizens residing therein."

The resolution passed on May 24th was ratified on June 5th and came into force on June 6th.It was only on June 3, 2008, after one full year of being tucked away forgotten in some bureaucratic drawer, that word of the ruling was sent to the Armavir Regional Office and the Etchmiadzin Municipality, urging them to take appropriate steps to execute the conditions of the decision.

The 34 homeless families residing in the dormitory have been struggling for years to get a home to call their own. Now, when the matter seems to have been resolved to their benefit, they appear to have a disagreement with local officials. They are protesting the violation of the decision's execution deadlines and are not ready to accept that last year's decision is just reaching the ears of local officials. Their mistrust of these officials runs so deep that they are demanding property deeds to the apartments in question even before any inspection and measurements of the space has taken place.

Aghavni Ghazaryan, who now lives with her 21 year-old son in a one room flat, is asking for two rooms. To this end she already taken steps to see that others don't "elbow their way into the dormitory and get apartment space at her expense", and she has every reason to be concerned. Mrs. Ghazaryan complains, "Where did they round up those 59 families from in order to squeeze them in the waiting list when only 34 families are officially registered as residents? Who's going to pay for this generosity? If they think that they can get away by giving me and my son just one room they're sadly mistaken. Sooner or later I'll be marrying off my son...do they expect the newlyweds to sleep alongside me?"

Anjela Knyazyan, who lives with her 30 year-old daughter, puts the issue in clear black and white terms, "18 square meters is what's coming to me and my daughter and they must meet this obligation."

Yura Manvelyan, Director of the Legal Affairs Division at the Armavir Regional Office and a member of the newly-formed Housing Allocation Committee, states that, "The lists are preliminary and are based on data taken from official dormitory residents' documentation and from the Passport Division. We've also asked the State Real Estate Registry (Cadastre) to supply us with the names of those who own property elsewhere. These individuals will be removed from the waiting list. In addition, the government's decision clearly notes that apartments will only be allocated to homeless families actually living in the dormitory. Thus it doesn't matter if they are registered at that address or not."

The dormitory building is in a 3rd degree state of disrepair. In other words the building first must be reinforced, the internal structural supports modified, before any partitions are erected and renovations started. Estimates for the work needed have already been drawn up and 257 million drams, or 70% of the entire cost, will come out of the local community budget. The project design will allow for each family to have a personal kitchen and bath instead of the communal ones now existing. Even this fact however doesn't make residents happy. First and foremost, as proof of being home owners, they want their property certificates.

The Housing Committee's last session held on June 18th was a pretty boisterous affair. The main bone of contention was between dorm residents and the committee's specialist. Dukhik Movsesyan, one of the residents' representatives, threatened to direct the people to the halls of the government if "the certificates weren't handed out". Agik Avagyan, the Mayor of Etchmiadzin and President of the Housing Committee, stated that, "Until the partitions are put in place it would be senseless for us to hand out any certificates. But we are ready to grant each family an official "letter of proof" attesting to the fact that they are indeed the property owners."

The atmosphere at the session was such that it was evident that the residents were in no mood to accept such half measures. Their obstinancy seemed so made-up or artificial that it gave rise to suspecting whether there is any ulterior motive in pressuring the Housing Committee to such a degree. (Let us remember that elections for Local Self-Government positions will be taking place in Etchmiadzin in the future and that the authorities now governing the town have exhausted the reserve of confidence they once enjoyed with their higher-ups.)

Even the detailed explanations of Shiraz Harutyunyan, who heads the Etchmiadzin Regional Cadastre Subdivision, were fruitless. Not having a drop of faith in any of the Housing Committee members, resident representative Dukhik Movsesyan made several calls on his cell phone in an alleged attempt to speak with some unknown employee on Armenian President's staff who, according to Movsesyan, urged them to begin action to get the certificates. The attempted phone calls to this unknown staffer were never answered by anyone on the other side.

The resolution passed on May 24th was ratified on June 5th and came into force on June 6th.It was only on June 3, 2008, after one full year of being tucked away forgotten in some bureaucratic drawer, that word of the ruling was sent to the Armavir Regional Office and the Etchmiadzin Municipality, urging them to take appropriate steps to execute the conditions of the decision.

The 34 homeless families residing in the dormitory have been struggling for years to get a home to call their own. Now, when the matter seems to have been resolved to their benefit, they appear to have a disagreement with local officials. They are protesting the violation of the decision's execution deadlines and are not ready to accept that last year's decision is just reaching the ears of local officials. Their mistrust of these officials runs so deep that they are demanding property deeds to the apartments in question even before any inspection and measurements of the space has taken place.

Aghavni Ghazaryan, who now lives with her 21 year-old son in a one room flat, is asking for two rooms. To this end she already taken steps to see that others don't "elbow their way into the dormitory and get apartment space at her expense", and she has every reason to be concerned. Mrs. Ghazaryan complains, "Where did they round up those 59 families from in order to squeeze them in the waiting list when only 34 families are officially registered as residents? Who's going to pay for this generosity? If they think that they can get away by giving me and my son just one room they're sadly mistaken. Sooner or later I'll be marrying off my son...do they expect the newlyweds to sleep alongside me?"

Anjela Knyazyan, who lives with her 30 year-old daughter, puts the issue in clear black and white terms, "18 square meters is what's coming to me and my daughter and they must meet this obligation."

Yura Manvelyan, Director of the Legal Affairs Division at the Armavir Regional Office and a member of the newly-formed Housing Allocation Committee, states that, "The lists are preliminary and are based on data taken from official dormitory residents' documentation and from the Passport Division. We've also asked the State Real Estate Registry (Cadastre) to supply us with the names of those who own property elsewhere. These individuals will be removed from the waiting list. In addition, the government's decision clearly notes that apartments will only be allocated to homeless families actually living in the dormitory. Thus it doesn't matter if they are registered at that address or not."

The dormitory building is in a 3rd degree state of disrepair. In other words the building first must be reinforced, the internal structural supports modified, before any partitions are erected and renovations started. Estimates for the work needed have already been drawn up and 257 million drams, or 70% of the entire cost, will come out of the local community budget. The project design will allow for each family to have a personal kitchen and bath instead of the communal ones now existing. Even this fact however doesn't make residents happy. First and foremost, as proof of being home owners, they want their property certificates.

The Housing Committee's last session held on June 18th was a pretty boisterous affair. The main bone of contention was between dorm residents and the committee's specialist. Dukhik Movsesyan, one of the residents' representatives, threatened to direct the people to the halls of the government if "the certificates weren't handed out". Agik Avagyan, the Mayor of Etchmiadzin and President of the Housing Committee, stated that, "Until the partitions are put in place it would be senseless for us to hand out any certificates. But we are ready to grant each family an official "letter of proof" attesting to the fact that they are indeed the property owners."

The atmosphere at the session was such that it was evident that the residents were in no mood to accept such half measures. Their obstinancy seemed so made-up or artificial that it gave rise to suspecting whether there is any ulterior motive in pressuring the Housing Committee to such a degree. (Let us remember that elections for Local Self-Government positions will be taking place in Etchmiadzin in the future and that the authorities now governing the town have exhausted the reserve of confidence they once enjoyed with their higher-ups.)

Even the detailed explanations of Shiraz Harutyunyan, who heads the Etchmiadzin Regional Cadastre Subdivision, were fruitless. Not having a drop of faith in any of the Housing Committee members, resident representative Dukhik Movsesyan made several calls on his cell phone in an alleged attempt to speak with some unknown employee on Armenian President's staff who, according to Movsesyan, urged them to begin action to get the certificates. The attempted phone calls to this unknown staffer were never answered by anyone on the other side.