Maltese residents are being squeezed out of the property market and the situation will not be resolved by building more social housing units, environment NGO Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar has said.
It said the recent court decision belatedly recognised landlords' rights on pre-1995 rental property rented at below current market values would increase pressure for low-cost housing and lead to more building congestion.
"Besides causing great hardship, the eviction of tenants who are unable to pay higher rents, increases housing demand exponentially. It is now undeniable that homelessness is on the rise in Malta. And yet, mainly because of the total absence of property tax levied on hoarders of multiple properties, there are still too many properties being purposely left vacant by owners waiting for the 'right' offer, " the NGO said.
"It is clear that the situation is now such that average Maltese residents are being squeezed out of the property market both as regards sale and rental costs. If the government fails to provide specific solutions to these two situations then it would have shown reluctance at coming out in favour of the common good, which is not the same as economic benefit," the NGO said.
"The fact remains that the authorities stubbornly refuse to relate the increasing demand for social housing to the unregulated building industry being allowed to freely continue with unabated speculation. The end result is that we have two trends pulling in opposite directions, exacerbating the present situation to a point where government may find itself forced to put ever more resources into its own housing projects, but at the expense of other badly needed spending such as education, public health, pensions, child care and roads."
FAA said permits for speculative building of blocks of apartments should be accompanied by the allocation of a number of low-rent apartments in any new project.
"Even in the bastion of capitalism, the United States, many states oblige developers of mega-projects to offer some of their apartments at a low cost," it said.
Turning to recent announcements of social housing projects, the FAA said solving the housing problems through building more units created various issues.
These include the take-up of open areas, increased congestion, demolition of heritage buildings, more construction waste for our over-full landfills and more pollution caused by construction, the FAA said.
It also suggested that the state offsets the burden placed on some landlords who may also be shouldering part of the housing provision problem, by allowing them deductions of taxes on their incomes.