10,000 IDPs will be gifted new homes

More than 10,000 Georgian people displaced by conflict and violence who live in sub-standard collective centres will be gifted apartments in their name for virtually no cost, announced Georgia’s Ministry of Refugees. 

The internally displaced families who lived in state-owned collective centres across the country will soon be presented with new homes for a symbolic price – one GEL. 

The project launched on November 1 and will continue for 10 months. The Ministry of Refugees hired 64 people to evaluate the condition of the collective centres.

A 2013 UN survey revealed many collective centres did not meet adequate standards. To get IDPs into adequate housing, the Georgian Government purchased more than 1,500 houses which will soon be gifted to eligible families in Georgia’s regional areas.

As well as this initiative, the Ministry said it would look into cases where internally displaced persons (IDPs) lived in privately-owned properties with the intention of possibly buying the properties and gifting it to the IDP at the symbolic one GEL price.

The living conditions of thousands of IDPs were deemed deplorable and have been found to be inadequate.

According to the United Nations Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) there were up to 206,600 IDPs registered by in Georgia at the end of 2013.

About 45 percent of IDP’s lived in collective centres – about 70 percent of which do not meet minimum shelter standards, lacked adequate privacy, lacked access to water, proper insulation and functional sewage systems,” stated the Gap analysis of the UN Refugee agency.