HIV/AIDS families still waiting on housing

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 15:02 Khoun Leakhana

TEN families affected by HIV/AIDS in Borei Keila are still living without permanent homes after being promised new apartments by local authorities, they say.

“In June, the governor promised to give apartments to us,” resident Va Channy, 42, said on Monday. “They gave us three months’ rent while we waited for the building to be completed. But three months have passed already, and we still don’t have any information.”

That rent money – US$10 per month for each family – has dried up, leaving the families uncertain about their futures.

“I want to meet [the authorities] and ask them whether we can live in the new building or not, and if what they promised us was the truth,” Va Channy said.

Prampi Makara district Governor Som Sovann said Monday that he did not know anything about the housing problem.

Sao Vanna, community representative of Tuol Sambo, where other families affected with HIV/AIDS have already been moved, said he would ask the government for more rent money while residents wait for the building to be completed.