Property owners still fear requisition

The Housing Authority wants to provide more accommodation for leasing to satisfy the demand for social housing, Housing Authority chairman Marisa Micallef wrote in her report for 2006 and 2007.

The residences could either be built by the authority itself or by private owners.

Social Policy Minister John Dalli said yesterday, in reply to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Jean Pierre Farrugia, that there are 3,485 pending applications for social housing.

Ms Micallef said in her report that property owners still feared requisition and this could be seen from the weak reaction to the authority's request to rent property from the private sector.