Glendale news-press reports that last week Habitat for Humanity representatives from Yerevan, Armenia, stopped in Glendale, kicking off a two-week, three-city tour to raise $185,000 for affordable housing in Armenia.
Seda Arzumanyan, resource development manager for Habitat Armenia, said that “the diaspora should worry about what’s happening with the housing market in Armenia.” “Habitat for Humanity alone will not be able to fight against housing poverty in Armenia.” Executive Director Luiza Vardanyan added that a third of homes nationwide, and half of them in the country’s rural areas, need improvements.
The 1988 Spitak earthquake devastated the country’s northern region — about 5% of the population still lives in temporary shelters, including metal railroad cars, and former schools and museums, Vardanyan said.
Plus, she said, “after the fall of the Soviet Union, maintenance of housing stopped — that is why the need is huge.”
Glendale news-press writes that since the Habitat for Humanity branch opened in Armenia in 2000 — the 36-year-old organization serves 85 countries worldwide — it has built homes and facilitated renovations for 1,500 low-income families.” This fiscal year, its goal is to reach 970 families, with 350 families having already been served. The three-city tour includes San Francisco and Lansing, Michigan.”
The organization is also on the lookout for investors for a project that would bring new homes — costing $48,000 to $60,000 each — to 650 families who live in metal and wooden housing in Spitak. The region is still reeling from the earthquake that left 17% of the nation’s housing stock uninhabitable, according to the organization.
“It’s just a dream,” Vardanyan said. “If we can find enough funds, we will do this project.”
