A hostel in Kapan designed for students has been turning into an asylum for homeless, leaving no chance for students to get a room there.

People who reside in the hostel refuse to leave it, saying they have no place to go, while students of Armenia’s State Engineering University’s (ASEU) Kapan branch who came Kapan to study from different towns of Syunik province are forced to seek other housing.

For years the University administration has been trying to make families illegally residing in the hostel leave. In spring a decision was made to take more serious steps and lodge a court claim. Syunik province’ court of general jurisdiction upheld the claim.

Anna Gevorgyan, 17, has been residing in the hostel building for 8 years together with her mother and brother, who is currently in the army. “When we went to the municipality protesting, we asked if a soldier’s mother or a single mother of under-age children deserve to be left homeless in the streets...” says Gevorgyan.

Anna’s father is missing, they have never had a house, and before moving to this hostel they had lived in another one.

The building used to be a mining college hostel, where students from different parts of Armenia and NKR lived.

By a government decree, the college was reorganized into ASEU Kapan and in 1998 the hostel along with its inventory was handed to the University.

“When we received the building, it was in a proper state where both college and university students resided, as well as refugees who were not allowed to be evicted,” recalls ASEU Kapan branch director Seyran Balasanyan.

Then mayor Gagik Atajanyan sent a request letter asking to give a temporary shelter in the hostel to homeless residents if it was possible.

“If I refused saying it wasn’t possible, I would have probably spared us the trouble of these years, or if I had turned to my immediate chief he would have forbidden for lack of any grounds for hosting them. But we decided to assist and provided them with temporary shelter. Temporary meant for 2-6 months,” says Balasanyan.

There are 10 rooms currently occupied, 18 people registered and no one student among them.

Balasanyan is convinced that in reality not all of them are homeless, some of them, for this or that reason, have left their family houses or either sold or pawned their own and lost.

Balasanyan thinks that hostel works well in appealing for and receiving social benefits. “Isn’t this wasting state assets?” he asks, and adds that according to some information he possesses only 2 families are truly homeless.

Since 2004, when refugees residing here were given apartments, the university administration has tried different means to persuade the hostel residents to free the building.

Anna has constantly heard demands to leave: “Well, and we demand a house, we have turned to the municipality, local administration body, government. The municipality told us not to leave.”

She has no idea where they can go after being expelled, her mother is disabled and doesn’t have a job, she has finished her school this year, wants to study, they live on social benefits and can’t pay rent. “Although it is very difficult to live in these conditions, but if there is no other option, what can we do?”

In May residents filed a complaint to the Court of Appeal, the court sent the complaint back for lack of well-grounded reasons.

The university administration is waiting for the case to return to Syunik court of general jurisdiction, so that they turn to Service for Compulsory Execution of Judicial Acts officers’ help.

The university needs the building both to host students and for future enhancement: new distant learning departments, new majors will open. Two storeys are planned to be used as a hostel, the other two for teaching purposes.

But before the building needs capital renovation, because during the past 10 years it’s been brought to a half-ruined state- littered and destroyed.

Kapan’s deputy mayor Norayr Harutyunyan says that the issue is under serious consideration, he is dealing with it himself, but for now he has nothing definite to say, has to collect facts, find out which family is in which state. “Of course, something has to be done, they are residents of our town, and we can’t just tell them to go away. ”

However, he points out, that the municipality has no premises available to allocate to them. He simply thinks that some kind of agreement can be reached. “The Ombudsman is also aware of the situation, we will discuss it with him as well to see what can be done.”