Housing Authority allocates Lm12.3m for capital investment

Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said in Parliament yesterday that for the coming year the Housing Authority was planning a total capital investment of Lm12.3 million. This included Lm5.5 million for the construction of new apartments, Lm3 million for the purchase of vacant property, Lm3.077 million in social subsidies, Lm2 million in subsidies to owners of new housing bought from the government and Lm50,000 to voluntary organisations helping those in need of better housing.

Speaking at the opening of the debate on the financial estimates of the Housing Authority, Mrs Cristina said that in terms of its mission statement, the authority aimed at providing decent housing for stronger communities. Every survey on the lack of proper accommodation showed that a percentage of people were living in under-privileged situations, which in turn meant that children growing up in such homes came to constitute the most vulnerable groups of Maltese society. With its resources the authority was addressing this need for proper housing. Much remained to be done in this crucial and difficult sector, which had always been a problem area. It was also a sector that affected everyone in one way or another.

This was why the authority kept seeking to change with the times and coming up with updated schemes.

Mrs Cristina insisted that the authority was not an estate agency, as sometimes alleged. Nor did it sell housing for profit - indeed it subsidised housing. Some funds were also allocated to the Department of Social Housing.

The authority was addressing its duties in rather innovative ways. It was unfair that a recent Parliamentary question had almost implicated that studies and research were leading to squandering of funds. Research was necessary for the authority to come up with the right policy, and its research unit had already given good results showing a clear picture of what needed to be done.

The authority was there to provide stable, healthy, accessible housing to the most vulnerable in Maltese society. Decent housing meant a more stable society. The housing problem was rarely one of housing alone: some applications for social housing were also coming from those who were already planning for their old age, while others were already facing the problems associated with old age. These problems, too, must be addressed, but they were not as pressing as those of people who had been evicted, single parents in dire economic straits or families with disabled members requiring greater accessibility.

More than 74 per cent of the Maltese had their own homes, and most viewed this as a first-priority investment. The 25 per cent who lived in rented homes enjoyed old rates, others lived in government housing and others lived in "new" rents that were on the high side. Some had no option and would never afford their own homes. The plight of those at risk of poverty also needed urgent addressing. Those in rented property were among the vulnerable groups.

The Housing Authority looked at all these problems collectively and set priorities: senior citizens seeking alternative accommodation, disabled people with accessibility problems, single parents with financial problems, families with above-average numbers of children and a low income, those leaving institutions, and new couples. The latter preferred bank loans to buy their own homes, reasoning that the instalments they paid were going towards eventual ownership.

Although some were still cynical about the authority's shared ownership scheme, hundreds of applications had been received for a pilot project of 134 units at Qormi. There was also a scheme for people to rent their accommodation with a view to eventual purchase at subsidised prices. Aid was also given to first-time purchasers, especially those who bought property in town and village cores and renovated it.

The Housing Authority was not obliged to provide homes for rent, but it still did so. It was also following a policy of urban renewal in such areas as Msida, Valletta, Floriana and other areas that had become sub-standard, pulling down old properties and rebuilding them.

Although the authority had so many schemes available, and in spite of the publicity it gave these schemes, several people, including those with disabilities, were still oblivious of the possibilities, such as the care and repair scheme. Even certain voluntary organisations were only now waking up to the help that was available for them.

Lift installation in apartment blocks was now well under way, and more would be undertaken for the coming year, Mrs Cristina said.

Other speakers will be reported tomorrow.