Proposed rent law reforms are planned to be discussed by Cabinet on Monday, Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Cristina said in Parliament yesterday.

Reacting to calls by Nationalist MPs Mario de Marco and Michael Asciak for the reform, Mrs Cristina said the reform was on the government's agenda and would take place. The old laws were unjust with the landlords but one had to proceed with caution so as not to create more problems instead of solving the current ones.

Winding up the debate on the budget of the Housing Authority, Mrs Cristina said it was not true that funding on subsidies was being reduced by Lm700,000 as Labour MP Karl Chircop had said.

On a point of order, Dr Chircop said it was last year's subsidies that had declined over the previous year.

Continuing the minister said subsidies on house purchases were related to the number of house contracts. In 2003-2004 the authority had Lm7 million in revenue from apartment sales and subsidies reached Lm1.8 million. In the following year revenue was Lm4.5 million and subsidies obviously declined proportionately. All this depended on how works progressed.

It was also not true that funding for non-governmental organisations had declined, as Labour MP Stefan Buontempo had claimed. Last year funding had been exceptional because of a particular need and that amount was not fully spent. The level of this funding was now at the normal levels.

Dr Buontempo had criticised the authority for spending Lm250,000 on its offices over two years, but this was not fair. The figure was spread over three years and included new offices and new IT equipment.

Neither was it true that apartments at Msida were being rented out at Lm900. That was only the commercial rental value.

Mrs Cristina strongly denied that there was any political interference in the allocation of housing and said she never even expected such an allegation to be made.

Referring to comments by Dr Chircop on Monday about variations from contract costings, Mrs Cristina said changes happened for justified reasons. More garages, for example, had been built in Pembroke. She did not know, however, where Dr Chircop got his information about the Mgarr development. That tender was only awarded last week and there could not be variations when the work had not even started.

As for workmanship, the minister said the number of complaints was not substantial and most were on small matters. And quality audits were carried out.

Mrs Cristina said criticism made by Labour MPs to the shared ownership scheme was unfair. This scheme was aimed at helping people who could not take out a loan to buy the apartment they wanted. They could thus buy a percentage of the property. Were all the 650 applicants who applied for the scheme brainwashed as the opposition had made them out to be? The facts were that these people were all seeing a good investment.

Referring to questions of how the Housing Authority had rented an apartment block at Qawra, Mrs Cristina said she would give Dr Buontempo a copy of the contract as there was nothing to hide. Whenever the authority tried to rent from the private sector, she pointed out, the response had been very weak. Still, she was urging the authority to try again so that it would have more apartments to rent to those who needed them. She preferred this method to giving a subsidy on rent as a result of which owners sometimes increased the rental rates to those applying for such subsidy. Mrs Cristina said Dr Buontempo should not cast a bad light on the Housing Authority's plans to purchase vacant properties even before the scheme started. The authority had sent her a draft policy how this scheme would be implemented. She had read it but did not necessarily agree with it completely. This, she said, was a scheme which would meet two purchases, regenerating village cores while providing housing for those who needed it.

Mrs Cristina said that a housing policy unit was to be set up in her ministry to oversee general housing policy in this country.

Earlier in the debate, Robert Arrigo (PN) said that it was the right of every citizen to have decent accommodation and the present government was in fact working in that direction. It was good, however, that the word "requisition" had been removed from the housing debate.

Mr Arrigo observed that authority had spent Lm1 million on the installation of lifts in apartment blocks. This was a good project, especially for the elderly. A further Lm300,000 were now being allocated. It was important that the lifts installed were spacious enough for wheelchairs.

Other notable projects included the new blocks at Msida involving 200 apartments and costing Lm4 million. There was a variety of apartments, starting from those with two bedrooms. It was not a question of one size fits all but the different needs of prospective residents were taken into account.

The encouragement of private home ownership was another project in which the authority was involved. It was good that the authority was allocating Lm3 million to purchase vacant dwellings which would be then transferred to those who needed them. This project was aimed at urban regeneration while also meeting the needs of social housing.

Measures to make it easier for inherited property to be put on the market should also help reduce the stock of vacant dwellings. Mr Arrigo said that that there should be certain obligations in housing contracts regarding the upkeep of the tenements as well as the environment of housing estates.

Joseph Cassar (PN) said a favourite programme of his, Equals, operated by the Housing Authority, was helping people aged between 16 and 25 who had just left church institutions or foster parents. Several of them left because of the great psycho-social difficulties they faced. One of the greatest problems faced by institutions or foster parents was the question of where the youths would live and work, and who would take care of them when they grew up.

Care orders expired when such people turned 18, and they suddenly had to care for themselves.

Also very useful was the Headstart programme, an EU project in which Malta was partnered by the United Kingdom, northern Ireland, Lithuania, Ireland and Sweden.

This programme helped youths who found themselves facing challenging opportunities while lacking basic skills. The youths were helped to work in an environment that was conducive to their progress at the place of work. Spaces were also needed for such youths to eventually find their independence.

In Malta the lead development partner was the Housing Authority, together with other departments such as the Department of Social Housing, Appogg, the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality and a number of non-governmental organisations.

The youths were enjoying accommodation that was above average, helped with subsidies. Eventually they would go out to work, some of them after having completed training courses.

Dr Cassar also spoke about disabled persons in society, saying they were very close to the Housing Authority's heart. The authority was helping a number of them find accommodation suitable for them, even if they found difficulties getting bank loans because of those same disabilities.

The Housing Authority was also rightly helping people with disabilities install lifts, stairlifts or platform lifts in their homes.

Nationalist MP Franco Galea said every genuine case should be granted social housing. The authority should always follow established guidelines when assessing applications, while ensuring transparency in procedures.

He said it was the government's responsibility to provide housing for vulnerable persons - who included single parents, separated persons, victims of domestic violence, youths who left their parents' house early, and families with disabled persons.

He said that while the government should look at the housing conditions of vulnerable groups, local councils should help these families improve their housing conditions.

While he commended the Housing Authority's work, he also encouraged the government to consider urban regeneration.

Property prices were increasing, as well as the number of bank loans to buy property. Mr Galea referred to recent redundancies and appealed to the Malta Banks Association to help the people involved. He also encouraged the government to take more measures aimed at putting vacant properties on the housing market.

Nationalist MP Mario de Marco said every government had done what it could to provide better accommodation to those who could not afford it. Over the years various measures had been taken by different governments including the allocation of plots of land, the building and allocation of apartments by the government, the requisition of private properties for re-allocation and amendments to the pre-war rent laws.

Happily, the present government was no longer resorting to requisition orders and when requisitioned premises became vacant, they were being returned to their owners.

The rent laws issue was more complicated. The pre-war rent laws, aimed at solving the housing problems of the time, had created other problems, not least because the rental market was effectively closed off and landlords refused to put their properties on the rental market.

The law was amended in 1995 so that new rents did not fall under the 1939 laws and one did not have the high level of protection for tenants which existed before. Although this amendment did not solve the housing problem, it was helping to ease it.

As for the rents falling under the 1939 law, the government had to strike a balance between the rights of the landlords and the interests of tenants used to certain rents. The government had the unenviable task of finding a solution which safeguarded the interests of owners without creating a social problem for tenants.

Turning to the operations of the Housing Authority, Dr de Marco welcomed the new policy of shared ownership. Despite the subsidies offered by the authority for the purchase of properties, some people simply could not buy a property outright. Under this scheme, they now had the possibility of buying a share of their home with the possibility of buying the rest in the future. The success of this scheme was shown by the fact that 642 applications had been submitted for 132 housing units.

Since the Housing Authority could not build enough units to meet demand for housing, it was also doing well to buy or rent vacant premises from the private sector to re-allocate at its own prices. Such properties were being acquired after public calls for those interested in renting or selling their units to the authority.

Dr de Marco praised the authority for the flexibility it was showing to match the needs of people with disabilities . It was a pity, however, that Mepa had allowed shops on the ground floor of a government housing block at Msida to extend their premises, blocking a common passage which included a ramp.

Michael Asciak (PN) insisted that social housing was allocated fairly, and said the situation was very different from the well- known scenario in the 1980s when allocations were on the basis of political belief. And one could easily recall how private tenements were requisitioned and allocated to the Labour Party. It was about time that Labour apologised to those deserving persons who were denied housing because they were not Labourites or the landlords whose properties were requisitioned.

Dr Asciak also praised the authority for introducing the shared ownership scheme, saying young couples are being given the option to acquire property at a reduced price. He asked whether the authorities could come up with some scheme to also help people acquire property from the private sector, such as through a partnership. Dr Asciak criticised Alternattiva Demokratika for trying to take political mileage from rent law reform when it knew the government was drafting a White Paper on the subject. It was time, Dr Asciak said, for justice to be served to landlords, whose properties were rented at prices which were unfairly low and yet they were responsible for expensive extraordinary maintenance works. For a start, he felt one should discontinue the system where children living with tenants inherited the rent of the tenement, although one should make allowance for certain social situations.

Dr Asciak asked whether the Housing Authority was considering of demographic changes, such as the fact that the population density was expected to decrease in the next 20 to 50 years.

(Labour MPs are being reported separately).