Day 2, Renovation and Restore

Today we headed out to visit a couple of the completed renovation projects, located just outside of Yerevan.

 This building was built in 1981, is 14 floors high and consists of 52 flats.  It is under the management of Mina, the Homeowners Association (HOA) president.  Mina has been in position for almost 20 years and is in charge of 18 buildings.  This particular building had new double glazed windows placed in the common areas, better lighting in common areas, new front doors and painting in the hallways completed in 2016 with a combination of HOA funds and Habitat loans.

The HOA qualified for Habitat's help through an application process that included proof of ability to repay the loan through a high enough collection of HOA fees.

 The HOA fee is 25 dram per square meter, with an average flat being around 80 square meters.  This is about 3 dollars USD per month.  The project took 2-3 months and the building still needs more work.  The elevator is almost 40 years old and the sewage system is in poor condition.  The projects that were completed were done to increase the safety of the building.  The lack of windows in the common areas meant that rain and snow would enter the building, causing ice to form in the hallways in the winter and the residents to pay more to heat their houses due to exposure to the elements.  The main obstacle that Mina currently faces is that the HOA fees are not high enough to cover the cost of maintenance, and getting those fees raised is very difficult.  The average monthly income in Armenia is 300 USD with almost half of that going to utilities.

The second building we visited is a great example of what the buildings typically look like before a Habitat project.  On the left side, nothing has been done yet due to poor payments of HOA fees,

while directly next door they were able to get multiple renovations completed with HOA fees, Habitat loans and subsidies.
The second half had the common area windows replaced and insulated, front door replaced and some roof work to help with the drainage.  The HOA head from this building stated that when people see the improvements that can come from HOA fees and Subsidy help, people are willing to pay their HOA fees and even agree to an increase to have work done.

After a quick stop to see an overview of what a low income area looks like, we headed over to the Nogori Resource Center, which is a social enterprise that was set up by Habitat Armenia with a grant from the European Union.  It is a mix of a traditional ReStore and a training facility.

The Nogori Resource center  got it's name from a combination of 2 Armenian words that mean "new period".  The Resource center is selling refurbished furniture that was donated by the community. They tear the furniture down to it's bare frame, sand and stain the wood, replace the cushion and springs in chairs and sofas and reupholster with new, fashionable fabrics.  This furniture is then sold to low-middle class people.  Their motto is "2 times the quality for 1/2 the price."  Here are some examples of their amazing work.

 This is a photo of the chair before refurbishing, and the chair now. (Price is in dram, which is aproximately 70 USD.)

After looking over the furniture we went upstairs to the training room to talk to Arthur and Luiza about this new project.  Arthur stated that one of the major hurdles they have to overcome is that the  concept of donating things and buying used items is not really a part of traditional Armenian culture.  They are starting to see a bit of a change with the return of diaspora Armenians returning and effecting the culture. Another major hurdle is that the furniture store across the street is selling lower quality items for 2 times the price, and people would rather go there and finance the poorer quality furniture because they can make low monthly payments instead of paying once for a higher cost/quality item.

Another focus of the Nogori Resource center is to provide training in refurbishing furniture and other restoration based trades.  People can also come here to get information about Habitat Armenia and the projects that are available to be applied for.


We then spent a couple hours painting children's chairs that were donated by a kindergarten and painting trays that were made from recycled laminate.

We will return on Friday to finish our masterpieces.  Tomorrow we are heading south to visit the town of Vayk to see some additional renovation projects, Norovank Monastery and Tatev monastery.