YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. As of March 1, there are 7 665 homeless families in the Lori and Shirak regions. 4 666 out of them are in the RA Shirak region (including Gyumri, 4018 homeless families, 648 homeless families in the region's 41 rural communities). According to the report provided by the Public Relations Department of the RA Territorial Administration Ministry, this was stated at the March 10 working consultation at the office of Hovik Abrahamian, the RA Deputy Prime Minister, the Territorial Administration Minister. 19 265 homeless families were provided with apartments in the urban and rural communities of the Shirak region in 1988-2008, 17 779 out of them in Gyumri. Besides, under the Apartment Purchase Certificate program, 520 beneficiary families received apartments in 2005-2007 in Gyumri, 112 residential houses were built in the region's rural populated areas. Apartment purchase programs are also implemented by public structures. In particular, 4 838 families purchased apartments in 2000-2004 with the funds of the Urban fund. 2 999 homeless families were registered in the Lori region as of 2008 March 1, 114 out of them in the town of Vanadzor, 923 in Spitak, 59 in Stepanavan. There are 1 903 homeless families in the 33 villages of the region. 14 601 homeless families were provided with apartments in the region in 1988-2008, 11083 out of which in the towns of Vanadzor, Spitak, Stepanavan, 3 518 in the villages. Like the Shirak region, apartment provision programs were also implemented in Lori: in 2005-2007, 179 families received apartments in the Lori region under the Apartment Purchase Certificate program, and residential houses were built for 432 families in the villages.

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