The Armenian government is launching a housing programme for families with six or more underage children, an initiative of the labour and social affairs ministry.

Under the scheme, eligible families will be able to buy a property or build a detached house in any settlement outside the capital, with the full cost covered through state support, Gayane Gharagyozyan, an adviser coordinating the ministry’s structural units, said.

The program does not allow beneficiaries to purchase property in Yerevan, reflecting the government’s policy of promoting balanced regional development.

Who will be eligible?

According to the ministry, 643 large families are currently expected to be eligible for the program, based on information collected from all of Armenia’s regions.

Of these:

• 390 families have six underage children;
• 143 families have seven;
• 76 families have eight;
• 26 families have nine;
• five families have 10;
• two families have 11; and
• one family has 12 underage children.

The program is due to be launched in March 2027.

Reducing risk of poverty

A labour and social affairs ministry representative said the program aims to improve housing conditions for large families.

“A programme of this kind has never before been introduced for large families. That has been a significant gap, and I am confident this initiative will help fill it,” Gayane Gharagyozyan said.

She said the scheme was expected to reduce the risk of poverty among large families by easing their financial burden.

“The program could also encourage families with fewer children to have more children,” Gharagyozyan added.

17,000 families benefited from earlier housing scheme

Gharagyozyan said the government has also been running a separate housing support program for families with children since 2020.

Since its launch, 17,000 families have benefited from the scheme, with the government allocating 12.6bn drams ($34.4m) from the state budget. The program provides financial assistance to families who take out a mortgage to buy a home or build a detached house.

It is available to families with at least two underage children, provided they buy or build a home outside Yerevan. Single parents are also eligible, as long as both the parent and the child are Armenian citizens.

The scheme has three components:

• support with a mortgage down payment or repayment of the mortgage principal;
• insurance for the down payment; and
• partial repayment of the mortgage principal following the birth of a child, provided the application is submitted before the child turns one.

The amount of support depends on the number of children and whether the property is located in a border region.

“We have one beneficiary who has already used the programme four times. That shows there is genuine demand for it, and we hope it will continue,” Gharagyozyan said.

The program will run until the end of this year. The government has allocated 2.4bn drams ($6.5m) for it in the 2026 state budget.

“This year, 1,775 families have already benefited from the state’s housing assistance program for families with children, receiving around 1.5bn drams ($4m) in support. A further 300 to 400 families are expected to receive payments in the coming days,” the labour and social affairs ministry representative said.