The Housing Authority in Floriana. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Two-thirds of the housing tenants vying to get a foothold on the property ladder through a government scheme have been stuck in a “bureaucratic mess” for more than four years, Times of Malta has learnt.

The programme, Sir sid darhek (‘Own your own home’), was introduced by the Housing Authority in 2011 but only 200 of the 660 applicants have managed to sign a deed to finally own their own home.

Victor Camilleri, who is trying to purchase his small government apartment, said he could not believe the extent of the paperwork involved and had all but given up on the scheme.

“I filed documents and stood in lines and God knows what else. I entered this scheme to help leave some kind of legacy behind for my children. I used to think it would be impossible for me to leave something behind for them; this scheme might prove me right,” he said.

The laborious process for the property purchase starts off with a site inspection, followed by the drawing of plans, a stage which Mr Camilleri said had taken him several months to get through.

The Housing Authority then has to acquire the legal title for the property from the Land Department, which can only be issued by means of a Presidential Order, a process which often takes months.

The paperwork does not end there and, once the authority gets its hands on the property, several documents are required to transfer the deed.

The process is so gruelling that none of the 79 applicants who signed up had been processed two years after they registered to own their home.

I filed documents and stood in lines and God knows what else

After the 2013 election, the number of applications rose to 150 but just a quarter of these were processed successfully that year.

Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia said he was concerned about the way the scheme was operated and was looking into different ways to address it.

“We’re heading back to the drawing board on this because it was a bureaucratic mess. We want to conclude the pending applications as soon as possible because this is unacceptable and then we will come up with a better way to do this,” he said.

Homes: we will find a better way

A Housing Authority spokeswoman said the entity was hoping to approve about 175 applications each year.

A total of 133 from last year’s applicants have been finalised and there are now only a few pending applications from 2013.

Dr Farrugia said he was addressing the housing issue on a number of fronts and said he had “high hopes” for several new schemes.

Among these, he said, was one being coordinated together with the Finance Ministry which saw 45 people offer property in exchange for cancelling their dues or in exchange for government housing.

The own-your-own-home scheme is not the only programme weighing heavily on the government.

Dr Farrugia said the government rent subsidy scheme, Skema Kiri, was draining the housing authority’s funds.

The scheme gives single tenants about €400 to be used to rent property leased to the authority – funds, Dr Farrugia said, that could support four people. This, he added, was being looked into in a bid to find a suitable alternative.

He said the government was also entering into a soft loan agreement with the European Investment Bank to build about 1,000 new housing apartments around Malta and Gozo.

He said the loan, for “quite a few tens of millions of euros”, would be used to target those who had long been after a property and would also be used to regenerate existing housing estates.

“We are trying to help those who are most vulnerable.

“We want people who are struggling to not have to worry about whether they have a roof over their heads,” he said, adding that the loan would also be used to build energy-saving buildings.