Gonzi praises Housing Authority for "impressive" work

Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi on Wednesday praised the Housing Authority for its "impressive" level of activity over the past year.

He said when speaking in parliament that the sale of housing units by the authority had risen to Lm3 million from Lm2 million the year before.

But what was even more significant than that figure was that the Housing Authority was becoming more socially oriented.

The authority had given valuable assistance to non-government organisations which had in turn been better able to help the homeless, people with disabilities, people with mental disabilities and others having problems.

Over 381 families had benefited from the sale of properties at heavily subsidised prices and the authority had also transferred 81 apartments to the Department of Social Accommodation for rent at a cost to the authority of at least Lm1.2 million had they all been sold at Lm15,000 each. This was a breakthrough since the department previously only had a small number of units which it could rent after they were vacated.

All this showed, Dr Gonzi said, how unfair some members of the opposition were when they accused the authority of ignoring its social role.

Dr Gonzi said an innovation introduced by the authority a few months ago which had been very well received was the care and repair scheme whereby the authority itself sought out persons who needed help and also assisted persons referred by social workers, parish priests and MPs, among others.

Earlier in the sitting, Dr Joe Sammut, opposition spokesman on housing, reiterated a call he made last week for an inquiry into how a tender had been awarded in 1999 for the rebuilding of a site at St Ursula Street corner with Wells Street in Valletta. He observed that after the two tender bids which were submitted were rejected, the most expensive of them was taken up in circumstances which raised questions. The value of both bids was far higher from the government's estimate of the work.

Dr Sammut said he could not understand how the contract awarded to Carnic Ltd did not include provisions on the restoration of part of an old façade of an existing building, which was to be retained. But what was stranger was how a bid for this work by another company using a method praised by architects had been rejected in favour of an option proposed by Carnic itself which cost Lm97,000 more and was criticised by the architects of the Department of Maintenance and Construction and not guaranteed. The department also paid a further Lm23,000 for the removal of a structure set up to support the façade until it was restored.

Concluding, Dr Sammut referred to a newspaper article by Housing Authority chairman Marisa Micallef Leyson on the appointment of Lorna Pavia as general manager of the Housing Authority.

Dr Sammut said criticism he had made last week about her appointment had nothing to do with the fact that she was a woman. What he was objecting to was how this person was selected and promoted over the heads of better qualified men and women.

Dr Sammut said the opposition was still waiting for replies from the government to the questions it made last year about abuses by former authority manger Victor Sciberras Grioli.

Notary Tony Abela (PN) said the Housing Authority had generally done well over the past year.

One of the most useful schemes operated by the authority provided assistance so that old homes could be refurbished. This was useful to encourage people to continue living in old village cores instead of moving out.

In the last year of the Labour administration, 135 families had qualified for assistance for home refurbishment at a total cost of Lm120,000. Under the Nationalist administration between September 1998 and August 1999, 350 had qualified with a total cost of Lm310,000, an upward trend which had been kept up.

Other praiseworthy schemes offered by the authority included subsidies on rent of property from the private sector.

The authority had also done very well to help people with disabilities. Over the past four years it had allocated Lm252,000 for this purpose, a huge increase from the paltry sum it had spent under Labour. The authority was also installing lifts in housing blocks to improve accessibility.

Dr Jean Pierre Farrugia (PN) spoke about the new points system for the allocation of rented premises to needy families. The new system gave eight times more points than it used to for living in dangerous premises and 2.5 more times more for people with disabilities. Despite his own frequent requests, however, additional points were not being awarded to applicants having chronic ailments or too many stairs to their current residences. These factors should be reconsidered.

Overcrowded dwellings were another factor that needed to be studied well, because of the obvious health and other dangers especially for children. Yet, surprisingly, many people who lived in such conditions refused to move to better homes. He felt it was time for a way to be found to enforce moving away from such conditions.

It was commendable for the authority to have decided that 40 per cent of new tenements would be one-bedroomed, for the benefit of residents who were single. Persons with mental disabilities, too, were now getting assistance through the supported living system.

Dr Farrugia suggested that when the authority knocked down an old house or block of flats in an area that was notorious for parking problems, it should consider the construction of a car park under the new building.

Unfortunately the areas of Valletta, Floriana and Cottonera were being allowed to degenerate, housing-wise. The authority could collaborate with other organisations not to let this happen, concluded Dr Farrugia.

Dr Karl Chircop (MLP) said a good number of worthwhile schemes had been set up but were not yet giving the desired results. Capital outlay might have increased considerably, but spending on social aims had decreased by 35 per cent over the past year. Although subsidised, the units offered for sale by the authority could not be afforded by all.

Social spending by the authority had dropped to Lm1.58 million, mostly on schemes, yet the authority's report showed outlay of some Lm3 million on housing units sold, salaries and administrative expenses, which were not social spending. Social spending by the authority had been in decline in all of the past four years whereas it had risen in the two years of the Labour administration.

No government that was committed to social welfare would have reduced its social spending in this way.

Dr Chircop said he did not want to be negative. The authority was doing some useful work, but there was partisanship in some of its activities, and foot dragging. The installation of lifts at existing apartment blocks was a good move which obviated the need for a number of residents to apply for alternative accommodation. But it appeared that here too, action was taking too long, although activity was now picking up.

Dr Chircop said that whenever boasting was made of allocations by the authority, it was worth recalling that in two years the Labour administration had made 500 housing unit allocations.

Mrs Dolores Cristina praised the customer care unit of the Housing Authority for its efficiency. She could tell from personal experience that help was only given according to the needs of applicants on precise criteria and without political partisanship. Indeed the authority's activities were never as transparent, and decisions were now subject to appeal.

She said she strongly disagreed with Dr Chircop's claim that social spending was down. It was certainly a social service to subsidise new homes at 33 per cent of the market price, and this sort of activity could not be likened to a business.

In other times the Housing Authority used to take the easiest ways out of problems, by distributing huge plots of land that effectively burdened new families with great debts. Now it was making better use of land through the building of apartments.

The care and repair service could make more headway especially if people realised that assistance could not consist only in the provision of new homes as social accommodation but also renovation of existing properties.

Mrs Cristina said she looked forward to a review of people who were benefiting from social housing. She was sure that not all those who had been receiving assistance for years remained eligible for such help. Beneficiaries should realise that they did not rent a state apartment for life but until their financial situation improved.

In his winding up, Dr Gonzi said that although the government's subvention to the authority last year had been Lm1.1 million, the authority had managed to generate activity of Lm4.5 million and it had even managed to repay over Lm3 million in outstanding loans.

He said the authority's decision to build two bedroomed apartments as well as larger ones had been adopted in the face of various realities of modern life in Malta, where there were increasing numbers of single people, single mothers, widows and widowers.

He said that to date, 14 lifts, each costing Lm13,000, had been installed in as many blocks of government flats, and there were many more waiting in line.

Slum clearance projects were a major headache. It was incredible how many people turned up to claim they lived in places which were about to be demolished and demanded alternative accommodation after these premises would have been empty for years. Some people even insisted on alternative accommodation for horses and threatened legal action that would hold up projects for years.

Referring to Dr Sammut's remarks about the site at St Ursula Street, Valletta, Dr Gonzi said the authority had been faced with the need to pull down the interior of an old, dilapidated building and rebuild it, while preserving the façade. The cost of the project had soared. He knew that Dr Sammut had an interest in the company which had not been awarded the contract, and he should declare it.

Dr Gonzi said he could not understand the personal attack made against the authority's general manager in view of her appointment. The appointment was made after a call for applications and with the unanimous approval of the authority's board. What was the reason behind this criticism?

Referring to Dr Chircop's claim that the authority's social spending had fallen, Dr Gonzi insisted this was far from the case. The authority's report clearly showed the social spending in broken-down format, for a real figure of Lm2.516 million, which was Lm300,000 higher than last year. And that did not include the apartments transferred to the Department of Social Accommodation, the apartments and funds given to NGOs and the installation of lifts.