We Take Social Housing Abuse Seriously, Minister Says As Maltese Mother Faces Homelessness
Social Accommodation Minister Roderick Galdes has said the Housing Authority was right to order a woman’s eviction from her Valletta social housing apartment after she was caught renting beds to students and tourists.
“Social policies are there to ensure that justice is done and help out those most in need. An effective social policy requires one to be sensitive to people’s needs but also firm on abuse of public resources,” Galdes said.
“This story shows how seriously we’ve taken the abuse of social accommodation in recent years and how we acted when necessary after investigating and verifying.”
He said that while evictions are tough to order and that he will combat the “false idea” that social housing recipients are free riders, social justice obliges action to be taken in cases like these, with the courts having the final word.
Donatella Falzon told Lovin Malta that she was given the social housing apartment, located close to Hastings Garden, around 14 years ago, back when she was only 20 years old and living in a shelter.
She raised her two children in the apartment and at one point worked as a hairdresser, a job she had to stop for personal reasons, leaving her with social benefits as her sole source of income.
Falzon then decided to earn some money by renting out beds in spare rooms in her apartment to EFL language students and later to tourists, advertising the property on Booking.com.
She appealed for a second chance, insisting that she had no idea she was breaching the contract at the time and that she is willing to refund all profit she made from the rent.
“All I earn is €400 a month from social benefits, my parents are both dead and I don’t have other relatives or a partner,” Falzon said.
“I challenge Galdes to look into other cases of people who are breaking the law and I urge him to stop punishing weak people. If the minister isn’t going to help people like me, who is he going to help?”
“I made a mistake but he shouldn’t make a mistake as well. He’s meant to be teaching me after all.”
“If I don’t leave in a few days’ time, the police will force me out and onto the streets. Not even dogs are left outdoors on the streets nowadays.”
Do you think people in these kinds of situations deserve a second chance?
READ NEXT: Begging For Mercy, Young Nigerian Sentenced To Nine Years Prison Over Importing 3kg Cannabis To Malta
