Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia yesterday told Parliament about the several steps that the government was taking to increase the stock of social housing.

He was answering supplementary questions by Opposition MPs Jason Azzopardi and Ċensu Galea.

Dr Farrugia said talks were at an advanced stage with the European Investment Bank to increase investment on buildings that needed maintenance before joining the inventory of social housing.

Efforts were also being made to move forward on lands owned by the Housing Authority and on which nothing had been done for years despite all necessary permits being in hand.

A meeting about vacant dwellings had been held with Infrastructure Minister Joe Mizzi, following which architects from both ministries were to meet to discuss putting more homes on the social housing market.

A call for expressions of interest had been made for the private sector to pay in kind for some of their debts with the government by making available dwellings at lower rates than normal.

A vacant block in Cospicua will be made available and the smallest flats combined to create space

The process was now at the stage of requests for proposals, but Dr Farrugia said the government was being very careful and resorting to multiple checking for the sake of transparency.

The procedure was being led by a retired judge and the system could soon translate into “scores” of dwellings being made available for social housing.

The scheme whereby the authority could rent dwellings from the private sector to pass on to people needing social housing allowed for no more than €240 a month, but some deals had been made at up to €400 a month, putting a great burden on the authority which had to fork out the difference itself.

A vacant block in Cospicua, which was the scene of illicit activities, would be made available and the smallest flats combined to create more space.

Care would be taken not to turn the place into a ghetto with too many senior citizens or too many children.

Senior citizens who were stopped from going out as they lived on the upper floors would be offered ground-floor accommodation to give them back their social lives.