Floriana mayor Publio Agius yesterday urged the residents of Floriana to rehabilitate or redevelop their empty houses and place them on the market, to encourage more people to live in Floriana.

Mr Agius was speaking at a press conference organised to create more awareness about the housing situation in Floriana and to commemorate the seventh year of Social Housing Day.

The conference was held at a building site in the Balzunetta area, where substandard housing has been demolished and replaced with new social housing apartments.

Mr Agius explained that the housing project will be completed in a few months and will give a new look to the area. He also made the point that, once the flats are ready, new apartments commissioned by the private sector will be built close by.

“Unfortunately there are many empty houses that are not being used,” he said. “These need to be rehabilitated and placed on the market again to encourage people to come and live here.”

Floriana local council will support any development applications for housing development in the area, he added.

Mr Agius appealed to the government to assign the apartments of the social housing project to Floriana residents.

“There are many residents who have left Floriana but now would like to return,” he said.

He explained that the majority of those who had left Floriana had done so in the 1970s, but over 1,000 people had left in the past 15 years.

Mr Agius also encouraged the government to continue investing in existing buildings and make them more accessible to everyone.