Minister denies Housing Authority funding has dropped

Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi and other Nationalist MPs have denied opposition claims that the Housing Authority had less funds with which to operate next year.

They were speaking during the debate on the Housing Authority estimates on Tuesday. The first part of the report was carried yesterday.

Mr Tonio Fenech (PN) refuted the implication by Labour MP Karl Chircop that the government was cutting down on spending on the housing sector. The authority's report was abundant proof to the contrary.

The Lm1 million subvention was not the only contribution made by the government. The authority would be spending more on the sector through its own revenues, to a total of Lm6 million, which was Lm1.5 million more than this year.

Before one criticised the authority for what it did or did not do, one should carefully consider the constraints in which it worked. The discovery of a potential archaeological site, to quote one example, had held work back until the importance of the site could be established.

Payments on individual housing schemes by the authority under Labour amounted to just Lm180,000, while last year they had reached Lm1.1 million. Average payments per individual case had gone from Lm320 to Lm1,200.

Lift installations had been started only in the last five years. The Care and Repair Scheme could have been more effective if residents had been more amenable to having their homes maintained, rather than insisting on getting new homes.

Mr Fenech said that for every Lm10 in capital investment or subsidy being given by the authority, it was paying only Lm1 for administration. This gave a true indication of the amount of investment that was going into social housing.

Why were rents still going to the Lands Department when it was the Housing Authority that took care of the maintenance?

The public-private partnership system was very important and had great potential even in housing. Property in government hands was dwindling fast, and the best direction lay in slum clearance. But private companies taking part in such partnerships should bear in mind that profits were not everything: there was also the social implication.

Mrs Helen D'Amato (PN) said the Housing Authority had changed its role from merely an estate agency to a more social role.

The authority had made agreements with agencies such as Merhba Bik, Sapport and the Richmond Foundation so as to provide a number of homes for people with special needs. In one full year of operation 297 cases had been referred to the Care and Repair Scheme, but only 97 had actually benefited from it. This did not mean that only 97 had benefited overall, because 111 others were found to have benefited under other schemes.

Nationalist MP David Agius said that consecutive governments had worked for the Maltese to have decent housing.

Houses provided by the authority, he said, should be basic without any unnecessary luxuries, so that the authority could serve as many people as possible. There should be a common policy on housing between both sides of the House.

Some of the authority's work could be taken over by other departments for it to concentrate on more related issues.

Giving an example, he said that a high percentage of stairlifts installed had been for the elderly. This could have been done by the Department for the Elderly while the authority concentrated on other work.

He asked how many unemployed had benefited from the authority's schemes.

Turning to the Housing Authority's relationship with Mepa, Mr Agius said it was government policy to install lifts in housing blocks.

But one could not have a situation where the authority approved the installation of a lift in a block and Mepa refused to issue a permit, arguing that as the lift would also be serving families facing enforcement action, the permit for the lift could only be issued if these families regularised their position.

Why should people be made to suffer because of the shortcomings of others? Why did Mepa not take enforcement action if this was required?

People in a block whose situation was not regularised could be denied permission to use the lift, which nowadays could be locked.

Parliamentary Secretary Francis Agius said scientific information was now being collected with the aim of solving the housing problem. The more information the government had on those requesting assistance, the better it would be able to serve those who most required assistance. This was the challenge the authority, agencies, the opposition and the government were facing.

An initiative being taken by the authority was aimed at assisting the elderly. The government was seeing how to address problems the elderly faced, keeping them in their locality and solving the problem in a holistic manner.

He called for more initiatives to be taken by the government and public-private partnerships for better use to be made of the country's resources.

The authority, he said, also assisted people with disabilities. A day centre for them was recently opened at Swatar, creating a sense of community.

Housing, he said, also reflected other social problems, including medical ones.

Winding up, Social Policy Minister Lawrence Gonzi referred to Labour MP Karl Chircop's remarks about lower funding for social housing, saying he had based his arguments on estimates he had not even read.

Dr Chircop did not seem to understand that since it was set up, the authority had always received Lm1 million from the state and itself generated the remaining funds it needed for its activities.

Dr Gonzi said the authority had gone through drastic change in the past five years. While up to four years ago it concentrated on building three-bedroomed units and putting them up for sale, the authority had since taken a social role upon itself. It stopped building just three-bedroomed units and started also building single and double bedroomed units which were needed for single parent families.

Thousands of people had benefited from services from the authority they would not have previously dreamt of. For example, young people in institutes under a care order were being given preference when applying for accommodation. The same applied for victims of domestic violence.

Turning to comments on rent laws, Dr Gonzi said law amendments eight years ago were meant to open up the rental market, yet over 20,000 housing units still remained vacant. Clearly, while this was a problem which had to be tackled, it was not legislation which was now needed to open the rental market and other solutions.

The Housing Authority estimates were approved after a division.