Two emergency shelters in Birkirkara have seen a decline in the number of Maltese who seek help over the past two months, but the number of homeless foreigners remains high.

About 70 per cent of the people who knock on the doors of Dar Papa Franġisku and Dar Maria Dolores, in Birkirkara, are not Maltese, Caritas director Anthony Gatt has told Times of Malta.

The shelters, which also provide daily meals, are run by Dar il-Hena foundation – a collaboration between the government, the Church and the Alfred Mizzi Foundation.

Some of those desperate for shelter are asylum seekers and refugees, who are among the most marginalised people in society. Apart from having to put up with poor working conditions, they are often paid a pittance and survive hand to mouth, Gatt said.

Decline in Maltese seeking shelter

Caritas is still taking stock of the situation and trying to make sense of the demographic shift at the shelters but Gatt believes initiatives taken in recent months could have led to the change.

One of them was the increased rent subsidy for those struggling to make ends meet. One resident of San Blas, for instance, who had been forced to stay on for an additional six months because she could not find affordable rent, managed to move out when the subsidy went up.

Caritas says it is still getting to grips with changing demographics at homeless shelters. Photo: Shutterstock

Another measure that had an impact was the equity sharing scheme for legally separated people aged over 40, Gatt added.

However, the challenge of homelessness remains. Among others, elderly people renting houses under pre-1995 agreements are being taken to court by owners who want to increase the rent, Gatt noted.

Who are the homeless?

Three typical cases of people who end up without a roof over their heads, as told by the director of Caritas Anthony Gatt:

Cristina paid an agency €9,000 for a work permit and a two-year contract within the care service sector. She invested her life savings in her move from the Philippines to Malta, but once the two years were up, it was more financially lucrative for the agency to hire a new person than renew Cristina’s work contract.

Although the agency and work contractor are not doing anything illegal, their “inhumane approach” eventually turned Cristina into a homeless person.

Without a job, she can no longer keep up with the rent and she has to compete with compat-riots who are given preferential treatment by the agencies as they invest their own life savings into their move to Malta.

Tony is in his 30s and suffers from a mental disorder. He does not recall whether his drug dependence led to his mental issues or whether it was the other way around.

He has no family to turn to and most often ends up sleeping on a bench, the beach or in an abandoned building. Not being able to take a shower, skipping meals and sleepless nights have made it more difficult for him to hold down a job.

Darleen’s landlord has just told her she either pays double the rent she is currently paying or he has new tenants ready to move in.

She is still going through legal separation proceedings, meaning that she is not eligible for the rent subsidy. Meanwhile, her estranged husband has not been keeping up with the children’s maintenance. The last thing she wants to do is move with her two children into her childhood bedroom at her parents’ house.