YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 1, ARMENPRESS. The apartment support program for orphanage graduates or parentless children has been extended for another year until September 1, 2023.

163 persons are listed as beneficiaries of the program and apartment donation contracts have been signed with 46 of them so far.

The program was adopted by the government in August 2020.

“The program is about donating apartments which were bought for parentless children and graduates of child care organizations in 2003-2010. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs acquired apartments for around 163 orphanage graduates during those years which were granted to them on contract basis. In 2020, the government decided to donate these apartments to them. The program still continues, there are some contentious circumstances which made us introduce a bill on extending it for another year,” Artak Harutyunyan, the Director of the Department of Demographics and Family Social Guarantees of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs told ARMENPRESS.

The apartments are donated to the beneficiaries with the conditions that they won’t sell it at least within the next two years. After the two years the beneficiaries are free in their actions regarding the apartment.

In late June, authorities said that a criminal investigation is underway over the involvement of ineligible persons in the donation program.

Harutyunyan said that they will define concrete criteria to determine potential beneficiaries to rule out such cases.