Housing should be a right, not an investment for profit, social workers say

Housing should be treated as a right that is offered to anyone in need unconditionally, speakers at Malta’s first national conference on homelessness said on Friday.

The conference, organised by the PROMISE research cluster and the Anti-Poverty Forum, focused on the growing pressures pushing people into precarious housing situations and the urgent need for a rights-based approach.

The Dean of the Faculty of Social Well-being, Sandra Scicluna, noted that despite Malta’s strong economic growth, the country has witnessed a rise in people at risk of poverty and homelessness.

“It is a sobering reality that Malta has still not ratified the right to housing under the Revised European Social Charter. Furthermore, we do not yet have a robust, guiding definition of homelessness to anchor a comprehensive national strategy,” she said.

Chairperson of the anti-poverty forum, Noel Xerri, highlighted how people at risk of homelessness are often forced to make decisions that “destroy their dignity”.

“I want to mention those who, because of high rents or housing prices, are living under a roof they do not want to be under,” he said.

Prof. Sue Vella, from the Faculty of Social Well-being, presented data from the FSWS, showing homelessness has risen steadily over the past decade, peaking during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We strongly believe we need an unambiguous national strategy on homelessness. This must be tied to a clear definition of homelessness,” she said.

She stressed that Malta still lacks low-threshold centres, which provide access even to those who do not meet shelter requirements. Some homeless individuals, she added, are occupying beds at Mount Carmel hospital simply because they have nowhere else to go.

Currently, shelters in Malta have a number of conditions, the main one being sobriety. In fact, shelters carry out random drug tests on their residents, and if they test positive, then they are kicked out.

Housing First principle

Professor Nóra Teller, from the European Observatory on Homelessness, stressed the importance of providing social work that “restores dignity and reduces stigma”. She emphasised that support must be paired with a safe and comforting environment to give people hope.

She advocated for the Housing First model, which treats housing as an unconditional right. This means that no preconditions such as sobriety, employment, or compliance with programmes, and tailors support services to individual needs.

Finnish researcher Elisabetta Leni, who works with the Y-Foundation, one of Helsinki’s largest non-profit housing providers, illustrated the effectiveness of this model. Finland, she explained, reduced homelessness from around 18,000 people in 1986 to fewer than 3,500 last year.

A major shift occurred in 2008, when Finland began moving away from emergency shelters and towards permanent housing.“Shelters manage homelessness but do not solve it. So instead of focusing on emergency responses, we prioritised housing and prevention,” she said.

Even people who are not sober are provided with housing. “They sign a rental agreement, like anyone else. They don’t have to commit to sobriety, but they must pay rent and avoid disturbing neighbours. Otherwise, they can be evicted, just like anyone else,” she said.

During the panel discussion, there were representatives from the Malta Cooperative Federation, the Foundation for Affordable Housing, and the Housing Authority, all shared how their entities work towards offering affordable housing for people.

“We are treating something that should be a fundamental right as an investment to make a profit,” Claudio Farrugia, CEO of the Malta Cooperative Federation (MCF), said.

But Anthony Camilleri, CEO of YMCA Malta, argued that while such measures help, they do not solve the issue for homeless people who still cannot afford subsidised prices.

He reiterated YMCA’s call for a national homelessness strategy, as currently shelters are “managing homelessness, not solving it.

”Looking forward, Isabella Farrugia, from Agenzija Appoġġ, called for a more coordinated approach between different sectors and social services.

“Our hope is that we move towards Housing First. We are managing homelessness, but we need more collaboration between sectors to reduce the number of vulnerable people,” she said.