Storm blamed for New Year’s Eve collapse of Vittoriosa social housing block
Ministry says 'relevant entities' had taken note and acted on every alert about the building
The housing ministry has blamed a recent storm for accelerating structural damage to an abandoned Vittoriosa social housing building which collapsed on New Year’s Eve.
According to a spokesperson for the social housing ministry, the storm, which brought torrential rain, caused damage to the building’s roof structure in Triq L-Antika.
“The room on the roof did not survive the North-East winds at force 4, necessitating further intervention,” the spokesperson said.
Part of the building collapsed on December 31, sending heavy masonry raining down onto the street.
No one was injured as a result of the collapse, however the ministry has faced accusations of failing to act on concerns about the building’s integrity raised by the Vittoriosa local council as early as 2023.
E-mails published by Net News, the Nationalist Party’s media wing, show mayor John Boxall had repeatedly alerted affordable housing minister Roderick Galdes between 2023 and 2025 about the deteriorating state of the building.
“What are we waiting for? For it to fall? For people to die?” Boxall had asked Galdes in 2024, according to one e-mail.
Shadow housing spokesperson Ivan Bartolo pointed out that Galdes had even visited the site in 2019 and publicly stated that the building would be restored and used for social housing.
“Yet, nothing came of it,” Bartolo said.
The ministry spokesperson pushed back at suggestions by the PN that the problem had been ignored.
According to the spokesperson, from the time of the initial notification, a qualified surveyor was engaged to assess the building, and safety measures were put in place to mitigate immediate risks.
“Each time the council issued notifications to the ministry, these were referred to the relevant entities responsible, and the entities took appropriate action,” the spokesperson said.
The ministry added it “remains committed” to ensuring public safety and will continue monitoring such cases closely.
On Saturday, the ministry said the site has now been cleared of any dangerous material and cleaning of the area will continue in the coming days.