Residents in government buildings are being encouraged to get involved in their maintenance and management through Housing Authority schemes that will have all 1,209 blocks regenerated within six years.
The often neglected government blocks and their surroundings are in line for an upgrade through two social schemes injecting funds into their improvement over the next six years.
The community development scheme was focusing on the surroundings of the housing estates and, apart from their physical improvement, would also involve an educational dimension for a holistic regeneration, Family Minister Dolores Cristina said.
Nine local councils will benefit from €675,000 a year to improve these areas and the authority would also be financing community projects, depending on the needs of residents in the government apartments, which were often riddled with problems of vandalism, drug abuse and general neglect.
The second scheme, involving the maintenance of the common areas in residential government buildings, plans to target about 200 of the 1,209 blocks in Malta and Gozo per year.
The authority has earmarked 52 local councils, which have government buildings, to identify those that are in need of maintenance.
About 7,000 families stand to benefit from the upgrade, which will see an investment of €1 million a year for the next six. For next year, the authority was planning to target 20 councils, reaching out to 2,300 families, its CEO, Albert Buttigieg, said yesterday.
Since September, meetings to explain the schemes were held between the authority and the councils, which played a crucial role in the success of their implementation, Dr Buttigieg said.
To guarantee sustainable maintenance and management of these buildings, the authority plans to introduce the setting up of residents’ associations, encouraging ownership and empowerment.
Local Government Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said encouraged the implementation of the Condominium Law, stressing on the need for shared responsibility.
The schemes involve the collaboration of the councils and the Employment and Training Corporation, which, through its community work scheme, will be providing the services of the unemployed, offering them the opportunity to experience the working world.
This scheme, launched last year and targeting those who have been jobless for five years, and now even six months, has 160 participants, working for local councils and NGOs. The plan was to increase the number to 200 by the end of the year, ETC chairman Sandra Sladden said.
A call for proposals to benefit from these social schemes is expected to be issued in January so local council projects would be vetted, approved and ready to start by the end of the month.