EU funds for housing

With reference to the misleading article, Malta Should Have Used Some EU Funds For Housing (May 29), the Housing Authority would like to correct the assumptions made.

For the period 2007-2013, the EU had allowed member states to use Regional Development Funds for housing for the first time. Housing expenditure shall be eligible only for the new member states and under certain limitations.

The discussions to finalise the Operational Programme for the Regional Development Funds are still ongoing and, therefore, calls for proposals for Malta are not open yet for projects to be selected.

The limitations imposed by the fund regulations do not provide "ample elbow room" for housing projects as stated in the article.

On the contrary, these limitations are imposing considerable difficulties on the Housing Authority to submit housing projects under Regional Development Funds.

The Housing Authority is designing proposals that fit the eligibility criteria of the structural funds.

The major difficulties the authority encountered have been the lack of funds allocated for housing thus limiting the housing component in the integrated urban regeneration project required by the fund and the EU priorities for housing which are not flexible enough to adapt to the local context.

The lack of flexibility has led to the constraint to demolish and reconstruct existing substandard vacant housing to create better affordable housing for low-income families whilst keeping them the focus of such regeneration.

Another constraint we encountered is that expenditure for the construction of new buildings for housing purposes is not eligible in all member states.