Housing Voucher Program Starts Second Phase in Kutaisi
On November 9, Michael Goddard, the U.S. Embassy representative for the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migrants (BPRM) along with representatives from implementing partner Urban Institute, held a Housing Voucher issuance ceremony to mark the beginning of the second phase of its Housing Voucher Pilot Program in Kutaisi. The event was also attended by Gia Chijavadze, Head of Kutaisi Municipality Services for IDPs, David Aptsiauri, Ministry of Migration and Diaspora of Kutaisi representative, and Otari Kulkhalashvili, Kutaisi representative of the Abkhaz Government-in-exile.
The first phase of the voucher program began in 2005. The program has enabled 94 vulnerable families who are Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) to move out of collective centers and into their own apartments. This year, BPRM is providing $590,000 to fund housing vouchers for 101 vulnerable IDP families living in collective centers in Kutaisi. 11 of the 101 families selected to participate in the program received their housing vouchers during the ceremony.
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