Sheltered housing in Vittoriosa

The Housing Authority has started the planning phase for another small sheltered housing project. The new premises are located in Vittoriosa and will be transformed into three units designed to suit the needs of the elderly.

This forms part of an initiative undertaken by the Housing Authority some three years ago to offer an alternative to traditional residential care, that aims at enabling older people to live as long as possible a self-contained life within the community.

Sheltered accommodation means that the units are specifically designed to suit the needs of the elderly.

They are easily accessible, well designed and easy to maintain with one's own separate bedroom, living room, kitchen and a shower, as the bathroom is often the first room, where older people start to fail in terms of being able to live independently.

The location in the centre of a village ensures that facilities for daily life can be reached easily.

Commenting on this new project the chairman of the Housing Authority, Marisa Micallef, said: "Ordinary well-maintained and easy-to-manage housing for older people is a very important part of the spectrum of services older people need, not least to delay their entry into very expensive residential care.

"We hope to continue to provide these units as part of mainstream affordable housing in the future. There may well also be a demand for this housing for low-cost sale in the future, but for now we are concentrating on provision for rent."

The first eight sheltered units were allocated in Floriana two years ago. Due to the very positive response and the increasing demand, the Housing Authority has since then identified a number of buildings in various localities for sheltered housing.

Currently nine units are being rehabilitated in Valletta, two smaller blocks of two units each are being completed in Paola, and another block of 13 units in Floriana.

The latter form part of a larger project and conform to the policy introduced last year, under which every new building project consisting of more than 25 units and over, situated in a suitable locality, will contain a block reserved for the elderly.

Plans for more sheltered housing have been submitted in Attard, Kirkop, Luqa, Msida, San Gwann, Siggiewi, Valletta and Zebbug. Plans are also being prepared for sheltered accommodation in Birkirkara, Fgura, Luqa, Pembroke, Qormi, Zabbar and Vittoriosa.