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Participation Determinants in Armenia's Housing Purchase Certificate Programme

The Urban Institute, 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037, USA, rstruyk{at}ui.urban.org

Dessislava Petkova

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, dnp22{at}cornell.edu

A housing purchase certificate (HPC) is a voucher for the purchase of a dwelling unit, either for the full price (up to a programme-determined maximum) or a grant for a partial payment (i.e. a downpayment subsidy). Using a special sample survey of programme participants, this paper examines why some participants have been successful and others not in using the certificates for the full price of a unit distributed under the HPC programme providing assistance to victims of Armenia's 1988 earthquake. Findings indicate that participants with the following attributes are more likely to succeed in finding a unit (and using the certificate): living in more difficult housing conditions at the time they receive the certificate, having more economic resources, considering more units in their housing search, relying on information about available dwellings from friends and family members rather than relying on information in the mass media and searching in markets where the supply of units on offer is relatively great. These findings form the basis for considering ways to increase success rates.

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