Housing Authority reacts to Church document

The Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace recently issued a paper on housing matters, focusing on the increase in property prices over the past years, and its consequence on Maltese families.

The Housing Authority said in a statement it is aware that in this age of increasing property prices more families are finding it hard to have access to affordable accommodation on the open market.

This is why it is constantly updating its schemes and launching new initiatives to target in a better way those that are mostly in need of assistance.

The authority has recently introduced a new initiative, enabling beneficiaries to buy property under 'Shared Ownership'.

Under this initiative beneficiaries can buy the share of the property that they can afford to, making it more affordable for them to get on the property ladder.

Each year the authority issues a number of units for sale, making it possible for young families and others to access home ownership that they would not have been able to do in this era of rising property prices.

This initiative proved to be a success and there was a huge demand from the public. The authority therefore aims to continue providing affordable accommodation through this initiative.

Another form of assistance is given through the grant for rehabilitation and completion of the first property. This scheme is mostly popular with young couples.

For a number of families renting is the most affordable tenure option. To assist these families the authority offers a rent subsidy grant. Amendments are carried out to this scheme to ensure that the grant given reflects the increase in rent prices requested in the private sector.

This is a very popular scheme and over the years there has been a constant increase in the number of families requesting a rent subsidy grant.

The authority will shortly be launching a new initiative intended to help first-time buyers wishing to purchase their property from the private sector.