Rent Doubling To €800 Leaves Maltese Woman And Her Family Of Animals Homeless
A woman is being forced out of the flat she called home for ten years after her rent doubled from €400 to €800 per month, with the many animals she holds dear set to be ripped away from her.
Elisabeth Vassallo spoke to Lovin Malta in a bid to issue an urgent plea for help for her animals and herself, as the prospect of homelessness becomes an ever-increasing reality.
Abandoned animals, whether they are cats, dogs, or rabbits, have found a home in Elizabeth, who seemingly worries more about their futures than her own.
“What are they going to do with them? These animals were abandoned, abused, and left all alone,” she said.
“I can live anywhere, whether that’s social housing, but my animals need to find a good home. They’ve been beaten in the past, I even picked up some of them from skips,” she explained, holding back tears.
Elisabeth said during the 10 years she lived in her Buġibba apartment, she only ever signed one contract, claiming that the property she leased was never actually registered.
Due to this, she has never applied from some sort of rental subsidy from the government.
“I’ve always found comfort in animals, I don’t really like people and prefer to be on my own, except when I’m with my animals.”
Elisabeth was initially set to be evicted from her home today, however, this deadline has been extended to Wednesday.
In some indication of a growing homelessness problem in the country, Elisabeth claimed that she knew of a few people in the St Paul’s Bay area who have ended up in the same predicament due to ever-rising costs.
Just this week, a massive group of migrants were evicted from a derelict building in Buġibba, with some even paying up to €700 for a room.
The government has tried its best to rein in a rapidly inflating rental market, announcing comprehensive reform in the sector.
However, until the law comes into force, vulnerable individuals are still falling threw the cracks.
Despite a strong economic performance, inflating costs, particularly in real estate, means that a new kind of poverty is emerging.
At present, close to 80,000 people in Malta fall below the risk-of-poverty line, which is anyone who earns less than €8,868 per year. That’s €739 per month.
With minimum rentals eating up at least half that amount, are people expected to survive on subsidies to make ends meet?
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