10 minutes with Ara Nazinyan, Executive Director of ASBA, Armenia

Meet the faces behind housing providers across Europe

Yerevan, 29 September 2015 | Social, Urban, Economy, Energy

ASBA ID

I would describe ASBA in 10 words as the National Social Housing Association Foundation, the first institution created to promote and support social, affordable housing in Armenia.
Our key objective is decent housing for all people.
Apart from housing provision, our mission is to support energy efficient housing renovation and construction, policy development and capacity building. We initiate ourselves and join creative partnerships with state, regional, local, international organizations to fulfil our mission through innovative and impactful initiatives.
We are members of Housing Europe because as a new organization we need to quickly adapt best housing practices to our country. Housing Europe provides unique opportunity for learning, networking and sharing. Current trends in Housing Europe create new opportunities for non-EU countries to benefit from and contribute to the network.

In Armenia...

Housing is considered to be in Armenia the most important place for every person, where he/she can grow personally, create family and feel happy. It is perceived like a ‘sacred place’ and bears a notion of ‘family fireplace’, the most important notion in everyone’s life.
Decent housing is one of the key objectives for the family and person. Historically, housing has also been strongly connected with the neighbourhood and larger community, key social capital notions for the country and nation.
Our key partners in the country are... Municipalities, local and international housing NGOs and key government organizations dealing with housing and social development.
Our main housing policy priority at the moment is provision of affordable and quality housing for most needy and vulnerable people.
The major challenge for the country today is economic and financial crisis coupled with regional security issues, connected with the country neighbourhood and the unrest in the Middle East.

In person...

I start my working day planning the day and update meeting with colleagues.
After leaving the office I prefer spending time with my family and friends.
Currently I am reading... “The Empire State”...
... while listening classical music mostly.
I move around by... car, but prefer walking as much as possible.
I prefer having on my table fruit, vegetables, cheese and lavash (Armenian bread) with a cup of homemade fruit liqueur.