None of the homeless in Yerevan will be able to spend even one night in a shelter originally intended for them despite the fact that 85 million drams was allocated for its construction in the 2006 budget. Nevertheless, Jemma Baghdasaryan, Head of the Department for the Disabled and Elderly in the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, says that “the Ministry is concerned about the problem of 'these people.'”

“We had planned that the every needs of those appearing on the streets for whatever reason would be provided for,” she says when speaking about a Center that doesn’t even exist. Construction of the shelter should start in April or May, although towards the end of last year, the government said that it lacked the financial resources to do so.

According to Baghdasaryan, the government applied to the United Nations and other international organizations for assistance, but have yet to receive any response.

Baghdasaryan does, however, say that In addition to employing general workers there will also be specialists such as doctors, lawyers, and psychologists at the Shelter. “This project won’t be able to provide homes to the homeless,” she explains. “Instead, this is a temporary shelter that will be similar to those found in the cities of other countries. This will be temporary emergency assistance.”

That assistance will eventually allow the homeless to find shelter for 60 days, but what happens after that?

“Maybe there are people with mental disorders or chronic illnesses as there are many cases when the homeless actually have homes or relatives in the villages and regions of Armenia. Even though they freeze in Yerevan, they do not want to go back,” Baghdasaryan replies. “So, we’ll try to assist their return them through the regional authorities,” she says, promising that the elderly and disabled homeless will be placed in Old Age Pensioners Homes.

“We did so during the past few years,” she adds.

However, even though the Ministry of Labor and Social Security is promising temporary shelter, hot water, and food for the homeless, it is not allowing them to live in the rooms of a shelter recently repaired with the financial support of an Armenian-American donor. “It’s just two rooms, and only cosmetically repaired -- just whitened and cleaned a little,” Baghdasaryan explains. “The problem of the bathroom has not been solved and so, nobody can be taken there.”

Instead, and in order to show that the Ministry of Labor And Social Security is seriously concerned about the problem of homelessness in Yerevan, Baghdasaryan says that they have found a new option.

This winter, the homeless will instead be relocated to a shelter that will be open on 1 February in by the “Mission Armenia” NGO. The shelter will be situated in a building located in the Erebuni District of Yerevan that already belongs to the NGO, and will work until May. It will be able to accomodate15 homeless people, which of course begs the question as to how they will be chosen.

“When I say 15 it doesn’t mean only 15," says Baghdasaryan. "Of course, when we find a 16th or 17th person in need they won’t stay on the streets. Besides, we know that the number of homeless in Yerevan is not more than 13-15 people because that's what we‘ve heard that from hospitals and NGOs dealing with this problem.”

Baghdasaryan does admit, however, that she hasn’t got any precise data on the number of homeless people in Yerevan because there has been no official study. Therefore, it might interest the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to learn that in just one week, Hetq Online found 20.

Baghdasaryan also says that the shelter which will be opened in two weeks won’t be in a good state. “If we think about refurbishing, people will freeze on the street.” she says. “We are thinking to provide a room, warmth, food and medical assistance for the homeless.”

As Head of the Department for the Disabled and Elderly, she does however say that the Ministry has elaborated a plan on how to provide social assistance to the homeless and will present it to government in the near future. The Executive Power hasn’t yet adopted the suggestion to grant additional functions to the Number1 Internat, but according to Baghdasaryan, it will do so in the next few days.

Karine Asatryan
Photos by Onnik Krikorian