Delia proposes AI-powered digital property database to tackle housing ‘crisis’
Database would keep track of all properties, including vacant, abandoned properties
PN leadership candidate Adrian Delia has pledged to introduce a digital property database to tackle the country’s housing problems.
The database would keep track of all properties, including vacant, abandoned properties.
In an opinion piece for The Sunday Times of Malta, Delia quoted how a 2021 census report revealed that over 27 per cent – over 81,000 – properties are either empty or barely used.
“Vacant, abandoned properties in a housing crisis are not a private affair: they’re a national missed opportunity,” he wrote.
Delia highlighted how Labour’s policies have prioritised turning “homes into assets” and “communities into investment zones”. He said a new PN government would focus on ensuring every young person is given the opportunity to be a homeowner.
“With satellite imaging, AI-powered databases and census-cross-checking to track every land parcel and dwelling, we will eventually find out who owns what, where, and whether it’s in use,” he wrote.
Such a system could help Malta become a country where young people are not living to survive but 'they stay, they grow, they build'
This is not the first time Delia has suggested the use of technology to improve society’s quality of life. In a previous Times of Malta opinion piece, Delia said a new PN government would introduce AI-based health monitoring to track well-being indicators for elderly residents to monitor irregular sleep, missed medication or signs of cognitive decline.
He said a PN government would introduce devices like fall detectors, smart-pill dispensers and video call health check-ins.
In his August 3 opinion piece, he says the introduction of an AI system to track the housing situation would provide the necessary information to identify the “thousands” of ghost properties left to decay, which can be used for affordable housing.
He quoted a social project in Helsingborg, Sweden, where refurbished apartment blocks were used to house elderly citizens and young adults under one roof, and studies showed isolated elders found companionship.
“This wasn’t just housing. It was healing. We must learn from these social experiments and adapt them to what works for us.”
He said such a system could help Malta become a country where young people are not living to survive but “they stay, they grow, they build”.