Malta now spends almost four times as much on housing benefits as it did in 2019, according to a new report published by the Housing Authority on Thursday, as housing affordability continues to plague Malta’s tenants.
The study shows that the government spent €14.4 million on benefits and subsidies to help low-income tenants cover their rent last year, including €9.5 million on the Housing Benefit Scheme - a programme that pays households up to €6,000 each year to cover their rent.
The scheme helps struggling tenants, many of them single parents or individuals who are cohabiting, divorced or widowed, slash their rent in half, dropping from €600 to €333 on average in 2023.
Around 4,000 households benefited from this scheme last year, a slight drop from the 4,100 in 2022. But the report suggests that this number has continued to dip, with some 2,900 households benefiting so far in 2024, costing the government a little over €5 million this year.
Back in 2019, the government supported the same number of households – 2,900 – as today, spending €3.7 million on the scheme throughout the year.
New scheme for pre-1995 leases is increasingly popular
A second scheme subsidising rental costs for people living in pre-1995 leases has also pushed costs up after being introduced in 2021.
A little over 1,100 families benefited from the scheme last year, at the cost of €4.8 million. This is likely to rise this year, with the Housing Authority reporting that 1,500 have taken up the subsidy so far in 2024.
This means that the government will have spent a total of €14.4 million on the two schemes last year, and a little over €42 million over the past five years.
Unlike the Housing Benefit Scheme, which tends to support younger adults of working age, the pre-1995 scheme is mostly taken up by pensioners and older adults, many of whom are either married or widowed.
In total, some 4,400 households are believed to be on either of the Housing Authority’s two schemes this year - a slight drop from last year’s 5,100.
Housing costs remain a heavy burden
National data suggests that housing costs remain one of the biggest threats to households’ financial security. A quarter of all households say that housing places a “heavy burden” on their finances.
This is particularly true of the elderly, with almost a third of all people over the age of 65 believed to be living at the risk of poverty, according to 2023 data.
Younger people also face seemingly insurmountable hurdles when trying to join the property ladder.
Last year, a KPMG report found that 95% of properties on the market are out of reach for a single person in their late 20s earning an average income.
The Foundation for Affordable Housing believes that the situation partly explains why 59% of people aged 18 to 34 live with their parents, with young people relying on their parents as they try to save money for a rainy day.