Residents of shabby house in Stepanakert demand from authorities to solve their housing problems

Residents of the shabby house No. 7a Azatamartikneri Street demand that the authorities either repair the building or demolish it and resettle its residents.

According to the tenants, the house is unfit for living: one of the main walls has cracked; the roof is leaking; the windows break into pieces; huge cracks appeared between the steps of wooden stairs of two sections; the wooden balcony is about to collapse; it is very damp in the building, which is full of rats and mice.

"A few years ago they began demolishing the so-called 'Khrushchevkas' (built in early 1960s) in the main street of Stepanakert – Azatamartikneri Street – and building new houses instead. We hoped that our house would be also demolished; and the state would provide us with the funds to solve our housing problems," Lena Airapetyan, who lives in the building with his family since 1960, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"But for many years we hear promises only. Two houses were built in front of ours; thus, they staked us off from the outer world; but we stay alone with our problems," the woman has added.

Ashkhen Danielyan lives with her children and grandchildren in one room with no windows on the ground floor of the emergency house. She says that "in winter it is cold; in summer we are stifling; rats are running around at night – they get even into the child's bed."

Repsime Apresyan, 67, a Category 2 invalid, who also lives in the house, said that "one has to jump to reach the sink, as the floor is collapsing."

"The firewood is over; we have no gas; and electricity outages are frequent – how can we live on? And we have rats: I cook and put everything into the fridge, as I can't leave any food outside," the woman complaints.

The last letter of the tenants, addressed to the President of Nagorno-Karabakh in an attempt to draw his attention to their problems, was responded on March 15 by the Republic's Ministry of Urban Development that "there are no funds for demolition of the building at No. 7a Azatamartikneri Street."

The Mayoralty of Stepanakert has assured that they know quite well the problems of the tenants of this house and will deal with them, when it becomes possible.