The government is planning to revamp Housing Authority schemes to ensure that the most deserving cases were given priority.

Social Solidarity Minister John Dalli told The Times that while he was happy with the Housing Authority's work, its main goal was to provide all the help it could to the most deserving cases. "For this to be achieved we need the present schemes to be reformed and to become more sustainable in a way that these correspond to the needs of those who are really in need," Mr Dalli said.

He was commenting in the light of new figures that emerged indicating that in the first six months of this legislature, the authority had allocated nearly €1 million worth in schemes and allocated 56 units for accommodation.

"I'm very happy with the authority's progress and these figures bear witness to its work," he said.

One scheme (Scheme R), which subsidises the rent of private residences, has been allocated €127,368 and in the first few months 155 applications were approved.

The authority also approved another 73 applications under Scheme 7, amounting to €253,282. This scheme provides disabled persons with financial help to implement restructuring works facilitating mobility within their homes.

Other schemes have provided subsidies for home owners to improve their residence - 36 applications have been approved amounting to €169,534.

Meanwhile, another €308,550 went towards 62 applications for repair works on private homes occupied by tenants and €121,647 were pumped into repair work on government houses.