Labor Minister Arsen Torosian indicated on Tuesday that the Armenian government will not increase what many see as insufficient financial assistance to refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh willing to acquire new homes in Armenia.
A lack of adequate housing remains a key problem facing the vast majority of Karabakh’s more than 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents who fled the region during Azerbaijan’s September 2023 offensive. A five-year government program launched in 2024 made each of them eligible for between 2 million and 5 million drams ($5,500-$13,800) in grants that can only be used for meeting their housing needs.
Many refugees complained that the sums offered by the government are not enough to buy or build homes even in Armenia’s rural communities. Real estate prices in the country have soared further since then. According to Torosian, only about 5,000 Karabakh Armenians have so far taken advantage of the program designed for 20,000 families.
The apparent lack of interest in the scheme has fueled more calls for the government to increase the amount of the grants. Torosian appeared to rule that out when he spoke to journalists after attending a meeting in the Armenian parliament that discussed the plight of the refugees.
“Our [draft] 2027 budget is planned to cover both previously issued [housing] certificates and those to be issued in the future,” he said. “We have received proposals from our partners to make adjustments to the program and will review them, but there is currently no decision to increase the funding.”
The minister urged refugees not to look for apartments and houses in or around Yerevan where they cost far more than in the rest of the country.
“We cannot bring everyone -- and this applies not only to our compatriots from Karabakh but to us as well -- and settle them in Yerevan or in communities near Yerevan,” he said.
Finding work in the Armenian capital is much easier than outside it. This explains why the refugees are reluctant to settle in remote towns and villages.
In June 2025, the government controversially stopped paying each refugee, who does not own a home or live in a government shelter, 50,000 drams ($138) per month for housing rent and utility fees. Such allowances have since been provided only to children, university or college students, pensioners and disabled persons forced to flee Karabakh. They were cut to 30,000 drams.
The phasing out of that aid scheme sparked street protests in Yerevan by thousands of refugees in March 2025. They only forced the government to postpone the measure.