Divorced Karabakh Armenians gain housing access

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia has amended its state housing assistance programme, extending eligibility to divorced displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh and introducing several additional changes to improve access.

As a result of government-approved amendments, divorced people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh will also be eligible to benefit from the state housing assistance programme and receive housing certificates, Gayane Gharagyozyan, adviser coordinating specific functions of structural subdivisions at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, said at a press conference.

According to Gharagyozyan, only the parent with whom a minor child resides may include the child's information and allocated share in the application, Sputnik Armenia reported.

She recalled that on June 25, the government adopted amendments to the state housing assistance programme for families forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the previous rules, one divorced parent could not receive a housing certificate until the other parent and the children had also obtained theirs.

Gharagyozyan explained that if there is no court ruling, the child is considered part of the mother's household, while the father may submit an application without including the child. In such cases, the application will no longer be rejected because of an incomplete family composition. She noted that the issue had mainly been raised by divorced fathers who do not have court decisions and whose children are in the mother's care.

She added that the programme's software has not yet been fully updated. Until then, applicants may contact the ministry directly, and certificates will be issued manually. The process will later become automated.

Another amendment addresses applications previously rejected because information on children under the age of six was missing. According to Gharagyozyan, in many cases this resulted from data entry omissions or because the child had been born in Armenia. Applications will no longer be rejected on that basis if the child had not yet reached the age of six as of September 19, 2023, and all other family members meet the eligibility requirements.

The government has also amended the programme for families that purchased homes in communities adjacent to Yerevan and retained a positive balance after the amount of assistance increased from 3 million to 4 million drams. Families that previously used renovation loans but did not exhaust the maximum amount may now apply for a second renovation loan. The maximum renovation loan remains 4 million drams per family, with an additional 800,000 drams provided for each sixth and subsequent family member, up to a ceiling of 8 million drams.

Another amendment allows any remaining balance to be used for constructing a second floor or a new building for an individual house if the existing home does not require renovation.

The programme now also allows family members to combine their housing certificates when one or two members are temporarily unable to obtain certificates because of citizenship-related issues. In such cases, the remaining family members may use the programme immediately, while funds received later will be treated as a positive balance that can be used for renovation loans, the purchase of furniture and household appliances, or the acquisition of agricultural land.

Gharagyozyan also announced that a 20% down payment has become mandatory under the programme, but it will be covered by the state.

According to the figures she presented, as of May 25, 2026, 6,336 forcibly displaced families from Nagorno-Karabakh had received housing certificates, of whom 2,896 had already used them. By that date, 3.851 billion drams had been spent under the programme to repay mortgage and renovation loans, purchase agricultural land, service existing and additional mortgage loans, and buy furniture and household appliances.

On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, subjecting the territory to intensive shelling. One day later, on September 20, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities accepted a ceasefire proposal from the command of the Russian peacekeeping mission, agreeing to Baku's terms, including the disarmament of the Defence Army and the dissolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The offensive killed 223 people, including 20 civilians, six of them minors. Beginning on September 24, the forced displacement of the region's Armenian population commenced, with more than 100,000 people fleeing to Armenia. According to some reports, around 20 Armenians remained in Nagorno-Karabakh, of whom 11 later returned to Armenia, one died and one was detained.