On February 1, 2024, Public Defender Levan Ioseliani met with the citizens living in the building of the former Art Academy of Kutaisi.

For more than 12 years, families have been living in a building with no sewage, toilet, or natural gas. Rain is leaking into the living rooms, most of the windows are broken. According to the residents, large pieces of plaster periodically fall from the ceiling and some of the balconies do not have railings.

According to them, they have repeatedly applied to the local municipality for transfer to social housing, however, the majority of the families could not meet the criteria and they have been living with children and the elderly without minimum living conditions for years.

The Public Defender’s Office studies the living conditions of citizens housed in various facilities and addresses both local self-governments and the central government with recommendations to to improve their conditions. The Public Defender will pay special attention to the challenges relating to the realization of the right to proper housing in his annual parliamentary report.