942 Families To Move Into New Social Housing Units By 2022 Under Ministry’s New Allocations Policy
A total of 942 families will move into new social housing units by the end of 2022, the Social Accommodation Ministry has announced.
The announcement was made by Social Accommodation Minister Roderick Galdes during a press conference this evening, where he gave details about the allocation of new stock of housing units.
“We needed a policy approach based on love for the people and for those who need it most,” Galdes said.
The government, he said, wanted to strengthen the present housing stock with an integrated and holistic plan catering to the specific needs of those who need it.
“We have transformed housing policy from an area dictated by management by crisis and generic solutions, to one guided by principles of management by design, which addresses the root of social challenges.”
Galdes stressed that this was the first time that the government was allocating social housing units in a transparent manner, adding that a number of initiatives in recent years had helped transform the sector, including the construction of 1,700 new homes, 700 allocations made from the existing stock of social housing, as well as schemes like that for the restoration and regeneration of vacant homes, specialised housing programs among others.
The new allocation programme will see 279 families moving into new homes at the beginning of next year, with another 330 families expected to move into new homes by mid-2022.
Another 315 families are expected to be provided with housing by the end of next year.
Galdes noted Malta had 3,288 people waiting for accommodation in mid-2017 – the highest number recorded in recent years. The waiting list will have decreased by 60% by the end of the year, falling to 1,321 individuals.
Galdes said that the ministry expected the waiting list to have dropped to some 800 people by the end of 2022, adding that it was the government’s intuition to eradicate the list “once and for all”.
“The social housing of the 70’s and 80’s was the foundation stone on which the generation responsible for building today’s Malta was formed. This social housing project will be the next cornerstone on which future Maltese generations shall build their future,” Galdes said.
The minister, who was made responsible for the sector following the 2017 election, insisted that social initiatives needed to be implemented in a transparent and sensitive manner.
Housing Authority CEO Leonid McKay said that the government had sought to provide as many housing units as possible, insisting that this was the only way to significantly reduce the waiting list.
Referring to the allocation process, McKay said that applicants had been passed through a “rather strenuous administrative process” to ensure there are no abuses and that those qualifying for housing actually need it.
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