Nine months have passed since a fire destroyed a number of homes at 23 Koryun Street in Yerevan.

Residents who were lucky enough to flee the burning inferno still don't know if they'll be moving back.

Karen Karapetyan, newly appointed as Yerevan mayor, visited the ruined site and suggested that the families find rental accommodations for 4 months until the city decided what it was going to do.

There was talk that the city might build a multi-family residence there and arrange for the homeless families to get apartments.

For the past 8 months, the city has been granting each family a rental stipend of 150,000 AMD. The monies will dry up later this month.

Artur Sargsyan's family was left homeless by the fire. They had been renting a place in downtown Yerevan for 4 months. He says rents had gone up and the 150,000 just wasn't enough.

So two months ago the family returned to the burned out shell that was their 5 room house. They did some repairs on one of the rooms and patched up the roof. Now Artur, his wife and two school age boys live in the room.

Artur's sick brother lives in another room.

His uncle's family has also moved back to the neighbourhood. But they are living on the street outside their former house under the remains of a wall.

In all, some 9 families affected by the fire had been receiving rental stipends from the city.

But none of them have received compensation from the city for their losses.

Two months ago Artur wrote a letter to President Sargsyan.

"The letter was passed down to the mayor's office and then further down the ladder to the district council. They said there was no money in the coffers. But the government has a reserve fund for such natural disasters. They should either renovate the houses or give us the money to do so," says Artur.

On June 15, Artur received a letter from Yerevan Chief Architect Narek Sargsyan saying that the city was in the final stage of drafting a renewal plan for the site and that residents would be informed of the recommendations.

Artur is upset that the city has yet to get in touch with him or the other residents regarding the renewal plans being drawn up behind their backs.

"I'm the property owner. They should be talking to me from the start. I should know what the city is planning to build here – buildings, restaurants, or what."

Artur says that he and his uncle's family will once again pitch tents and live in the courtyard of Koryun Street if the problem isn't resolved appropriately.

"Hey. We lived under a tent last December and will do the same this winter if need be," Artur declared.

Artur says that he'll reject any offer the city makes of a house outside central Yerevan, arguing that he's lived in the downtown district all his life.

He also believes that property developers set the fire on purpose to evict residents from a prime piece of real estate.

"We'll fight to the end. This land has been passed down to us from our forefathers. We will not let them repeat what they did at Northern Avenue."