On 7 January, President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan convened an extended working consultation on programs for the settlement of social and housing issues of the population with the participation of the heads of state authorized bodies of the Artsakh Republic and the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Mesrop Arakelyan. The RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs reported.

“Approaches to providing comprehensive solutions to the problems of both displaced and returned citizens to Artsakh were discussed.

In particular, it was proposed to continue providing assistance of 68,000 drams per member of the population (except males aged 18-58) for several months. According to the proposal, there will be reservations only for the residents whose apartments and settlements have not had security problems, but continue to stay in different communities of Armenia. The proposal of the mentioned social assistance program must be finalized and approved by the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

The main issue raised by the head of state, however, was the issue of housing. According to President Harutyunyan, first of all, the inventory of free housing in the regions should be completed, in this regard, he instructed the heads of administrations to finalize the lists in the coming days and submit them to state authorized bodies.

“Through state, charitable and other support programs, fast-constructing houses, which will have all the vital conditions, will be installed in the communities throughout the year,” the statement reads.