Hoxha family in the municipality of Vora is one of the thousands of earthquake-affected families that have been housed under a state -funded program until their new house is built from scratch. Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Belinda Balluku, visited this family today, whose members, following the devastating earthquake that hit Albania on Nov 26 last year, were initially sheltered in tents in Vora and later moved to a rented home that delivers the utmost in quality, cleanliness and comfort.

Energy and Infrastructure Minister Belinda Balluku said that around 840 homes, including 24 apartment buildings, in the municipality of Vora have been declared uninhabitable. Despite the difficulties due to the lack of rental accommodation opportunities and the low number of houses available for rent, Balluku said that adequate measures and actions are already in place to make sure that the quake-affected families are housed in the surrounding areas. “As many as 840 houses, including 24 apartment buildings, in the area of Vora have been found unhittable by the expert teams. The number of damaged apartments is estimated at around 350. Hoxha family is one of the many families that were initially sheltered in a camp built in Vora and it is one of the families that has followed the standard procedures as required. To date, as many as 650 families have been granted bonus rent. We are encountering difficulties in finding rental homes here in Vora. Hoxha family has been lucky enough to find this house. For this reason, a number of local families have moved into other areas and we have offered them help in terms of transport since children attend school here and their workplaces are in this area,” she said.

The Premier assured Hoxha family members that they will move into their new home very soon, saying the new house will be a much better than the old one and pledging that the government will directly pay the rent to the owner of the house they are currently living in.

“All houses will be built and we will definitely build them because it is much easier in terms of the process. For the time being, we should merely complete an inventory of the damaged houses that should be demolished and new homes will be brought instead. As for the apartment buildings, projects will be designed first and they will be totally reconstructed. Construction of the apartment buildings will take longer time. But most importantly, you will be provided comfortable housing until construction of new apartment building completes,” PM Rama said.