Gov’t offers 1 GEL apartments to IDPs in collective centres

Georgian people displaced by conflict and violence who live in collective centres will be gifted apartments in their name for one GEL, the Ministry of Refugees says.

More than 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who lived in state-owned collective centres across the country will soon be presented with new homes in their name. The collective housing blocks where thousands currently lived were not constructed for long-term accommodation, said Minister of Refugees Sozar Subari.

Cabinet members appreciated the Ministry of Refugees’ decision at today’s meeting, where Minister Subari gave details of the initiative.

"An objective evaluation will be conducted at the collective centres and after that IDP’s will be [gifted] real estate with a symbolic price – one GEL,” Subari said.

The Minister said the real estate property included more than 1,500 houses, which had been purchased by the state for eco-migrants in Georgia’s regional areas.

Furthermore, the Ministry said it would look into cases where IDPs lived in privately-owned property with the intention of possibly buying the property and gifting it to the IDP at the symbolic one GEL price.

"A special program will be designed for this issue,” Subari noted.

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.