Russian fights 'discrimination' after being refused apartment

Russian national Olga Spiteri, a single mother of two, has been told she is no longer eligible for a Housing Authority apartment, barely two months after receiving the good news.

Her friend, Anthony Falzon, is now helping her fight for the apartment claiming the authority had unjustly revoked the decision to grant her the premises.

In a brief reply to questions, the authority said Ms Spiteri's application under the shared ownership scheme had been accepted based on the proviso that verifications would be carried out. After these checks it was concluded she was not eligible.

But Mr Falzon is insisting the authority's reasons are discriminatory and produced a chain of correspondence to back up his claims.

Ms Spiteri came to Malta with her daughter Liza, now 18, and married a Maltese man with whom she has a son, Francis, now five.

Her husband walked out on her, and she and the children now live in a third-floor apartment with the financial assistance of the authority's rent subsidy scheme.

The residence is not suitable for Liza since she is disabled following a traffic accident when she was three.

Now the family, with the help of Mr Falzon, are asking for a ground floor apartment in Qawra under the authority's shared ownership scheme. This allows for the purchase of a third of the property with the possibility of buying the premises in future.

Correspondence seen by this newspaper shows Ms Spiteri was granted the apartment by the authority's appeals board on March 3, 2008 - five days before the March 8 general election - when the authority informed her it was "in the process of allocating her" the apartment in Qawra.

On May 16 the authority informed Ms Spiteri that the allocation of the apartment was being withdrawn because she had not been working for a year according to a retroactive amendment to the scheme introduced on April 29, after the approval.

The authority later informed her that the apartment had been withdrawn because she was not a Maltese or EU citizen, was de facto separated from her Maltese husband, had not been employed for a year and did not offer a guarantee of purchase.

But an angry Mr Falzon is insisting the authority was aware Ms Spiteri was separated and Russian all along since she was on their books for rent subsidy.

"So why did they grant her the property in the first place? Besides, I offered to guarantee the money she owed to buy a third of the apartment countless times. Then they shifted the goalposts with the retroactive amendment. I can't understand with what authority they just overruled the appeal board's decision?" he said.

Ms Spiteri is disappointed.

"All I want is to provide my children with a home that doesn't depend on the landlord increasing the rent. In the past four years we moved four times. The children need stability," Ms Spiteri said in broken English.

"If my children are happy, so am I... My son is Maltese and I would like to bring him up in Malta where there are better opportunities for his future," she said.

Mr Falzon got to know Ms Spiteri about four years ago when he returned to Malta after he retired from his job as a station master with the London underground.

He needed a cleaner for his apartment and Ms Spiteri turned up with her two children.

"I felt sorry for her when I saw her clean in the presence of her two children - a baby and a disabled girl. As I got to know her and her story I decided her family had crossed my path for a reason and made up my mind to help them," he said.

Mr Falzon helped her apply and obtain social benefits. She currently receives €197 in children's allowance and social benefits.

He also helped her apply for the shared ownership scheme and set up a trust fund to cater for the needs of her children and pay for a third of the property.

When the apartment was withdrawn he even offered to guarantee the full value of the property.

So why doesn't he just buy an apartment for Ms Spiteri and the children?

He explained that his main concern were the children and the trust fund allowed him to have an element of control over how his money would be used. "This is my money and I should be able to do what I want with it. People ask me why I'm helping this family when there are so many Maltese families I can help. It's this family that crossed by path," he said, adding he was Francis' godfather.

He is insisting the authority was discriminating against Francis as an underage Maltese citizen and against Liza as a disabled person.

Questions were sent to the authority asking why it had changed its mind about the apartment when it was aware of Ms Spiteri's personal details. The authority was also asked on what criteria her application was accepted and then rejected and why and by whom was the appeal decision overturned.

The authority ignored most questions and would only say the application had been accepted based on the proviso that verifications would be carried out on the applicant. The verification process started after the application was filed and the final decision could only be made once the checks were made.