The Housing Authority has “no pending applications or requests” from squatters who have occupied Fort Binġemma for years, despite claims to the contrary from Lands Minister Silvio Schembri.
Last week, Schembri said discussions with the housing authority to find alternative accommodation for Steve Buttigieg and his elderly mother, who are controversially occupying the historic fort, have been “going on for a while”.
But the Housing Authority said on Monday there are no housing applications or requests in the name of Buttigieg or his mother.
“Please be advised that both the person mentioned in the ongoing Fort Binġemma coverage and the elderly person residing with him, have no pending applications or requests with the Housing Authority,” a spokesperson said.
An internal Lands Authority audit, presented to parliament in April, highlighted the lack of effort by its own enforcement division to reclaim an illegally occupied fort in Binġemma.
The report says that the tenant, Steve Buttigieg, was given 30 days to leave the fort back in August 2021 and since the eviction order was never opposed, ownership of the fort automatically reverted back to the Lands Authority.
The report recommends that eviction is carried without further delay.
In October, Schembri said the squatters will “eventually” be evicted following legal proceedings.
But in a February parliamentary sitting Schembri used the fact that the fort is also occupied by an elderly woman to justify delaying the eviction, saying Buttigieg would only be evicted once “alternative accommodation” is found for his mother.
Last Thursday, he told a Malta Independent journalist: “Nobody wants them out in the streets,” adding that he cannot “understand the persistence on evicting them”.
Meanwhile, Buttigieg has shared multiple photos of his family and friends swimming, partying and barbecuing around an illegally built pool in the British-era fort.
Pictures also show several other parts of the fort where the squatters appear to live and work, as well as several cars parked inside the fort, including a pimped-up BMW and a Mercedes. Asked if there have been developments in finding alternative accommodation, Schembri said he would have to check with the housing authority.
Questioned on Monday, Housing Minister Roderick Galdes said he was not informed of any developments tied to this particular case. The housing authority later confirmed that the authority has no pending applications or requests for the Fort Binġemma squatters.
An internal audit by the Lands Authority published last year established that the squatters have no legal title over the land and confirmed that an order for the tenants to be evicted from the fort in 2009 was never carried out by what was then known as the Lands Department, nor by the present authority.
Originally built in 1878 as part of the Victoria Lines, the historic fort’s purpose was to defend the island from an invasion.