Armenia’s economic difficulties of the past 15 years have left their mark on the nation’s housing situation. Out of 800,000 families, 40,000 are without permanent shelter, living in substandard temporary spaces inside defunct Soviet era hotels, schools, kindergartens and hospitals. Almost 20,000 families live in domics, or metal shipping containers, originally sent from abroad as emergency temporary shelter after the 1988 earthquake. Only 14% of rural housing units have the basic amenities—kitchen, cold water, toilet with draining system and bathroom. In the last two decades, housing programs of the government and international donors have prioritized assistance to citizens who lost their homes because of the earthquake. However, thousands of families outside the earthquake zone live in substandard, unfinished, asbestos polluted and often cramped conditions, with no access to government assistance, which is what compelled a local NGO to insist on change.

Armenian Habitat, a grantee of the Civic Development and Partnership Foundation (which administers local advocacy initiative grants on behalf of Counterpart International), convinced the municipalities of 4 communities (Tashir and Dsegh in Lori Province, Khor Virap in Ararat province and Voskevaz in the province of Aragatsotn) to make budget allocations specifically for the purpose of eradicating housing poverty in their communities. In the Lori province the local municipalities will co-invest 10% of the cost of Habitat’s house building projects and the villages of Khor Virap and Voskevaz will contribute lump sums, 5,000 USD and 3,300 USD respectively, to help eradicate poverty in general.

To bring the issue of housing conditions of low-income families to the forefront and influence local government officials to address the problem, Armenian Habitat launched a public awareness campaign alongside lobbying efforts. The NGO published and distributed posters and leaflets to local municipalities, NGOs, and the general public and presented social advertisements, radio and TV programs (PSAs) illustrating the scale of the problem and demonstrating its adverse impact. To further involve media and local officials, the NGO held special building events where mass media representatives and local government officials helped to physically build structures, after which discussions were held driving home the importance of government involvement and media coverage of the issue. The NGO also used innovative and catchy techniques, such as a cardboard box campaign, where beneficiary children drew their dream houses on cardboard boxes, meant to depict the sub-standard living conditions of domics.

Meanwhile, in a series of meetings, NGO staff educated mayors and avagani members in detail about the causes of housing poverty, explaining to them the problems perpetuated by allowing housing poverty to manifest in their communities and why they should prioritize this issue. A letter writing campaign was organized and beneficiaries addressed 100 personalized letters to avagani members, who along with the mayors of the four communities, committed to co-investment and budget allocation.

Armenian Habitat’s advocacy work not only ensures the reduction of housing poverty in the four communities, but it also resulted in infusing a greater appreciation for the problems faced by families forced to live in such conditions and the impact that these problems have on the community at large. Habitat’s successful campaign is just the beginning of an effort to eradicate housing poverty in the area and will leave a lasting impact on the fight to eradicate poverty in these four communities. In fact, the NGO’s campaign has already had a wider impact than expected, and the provincial governor of Lori has agreed to co-invest 15,000,000 AMD (49,000 USD), specifically targeting families living in domics.

PHOTO: This young family lives in a domic, originally meant to serve as emergency temporary housing after the earthquake of 1988.