Malta is making significant strides in addressing housing needs, with our local partner, the Housing Authority administering a large number of programmes and covering the provision of social housing, the renovation and conversion of vacant properties, affordable loan schemes, as well as their new role as the regulator of the national residential rental market.
The Mediterranean country has also seen a marked increase in the delivery of new social housing in recent years, with further social developments due in the coming couple of years.
Reducing social housing waiting lists
It was particularly fascinating to learn more about the successful strategy for reducing the social housing waiting list in a short period of time, which, in addition to building or leasing additional social housing, included encouraging landlords or owners of vacant dwellings to lease their properties to the Housing Authority for a 10-year period for social housing purposes. In addition, the Housing Authority recovered 228 keys from tenants between 2022 and 2023, following investigations of the misuse of some properties, and other properties that were vacant after the tenants’ had entered care facilities. These properties are then reallocated to people on the waiting list. All of these actions were intended to assist people (vulnerable populations, including low-wage workers, seniors, people with disabilities, and others) who could not afford to buy or rent a home in the private sector by allocating a government-owned home.
We were pleased to welcome our Maltese colleagues to Brussels at the end of January, where we discussed ways to maximise our partnership and explore opportunities for future collaboration. Stay tuned.