Minister for Family and Social Solidarity Dolores Cristina yesterday presented the Housing Authority Amendment Bill’s second reading. She said that there are three entities which are responsible for social housing – the Housing Authority, the Department of Social Accommodation, and the Department of Construction and Maintenance. The use of and allocation of these entities was not clear, she said, and this amendment is needed so as to make them cohesive and their action common, thus creating one single entity. The amendment will also see certain discretionary powers being transferred from the Director of Social Accommodation.

“Social Housing is a headache”, she said. The need was felt for these entities to merge so as to minimise the bureaucracy government ‘clients’ have to face, and to better accommodate them. This integration is already taking place – the Housing Authority and the Department of Social Accommodation have moved into the same building.

The amendments will give the Housing Authority the competencies, responsibilities and powers currently being held by the other two departments, thus making everything associated with social housing the responsibility of one holistic entity. “Client-centered action” will become the practice, the minister emphasised.

Minister Cristina said property prices are increasing, and this means that one must justly and yet proportionately allocate housing according to people’s needs, wants and desires. “We have the largest space per housing unit in Europe, which is becoming a problem as we lack space,” she said. The minister highlighted other factors: young people want to be independent of their parents; there are more single parents requesting housing and many people want two houses; as well as an increase in the number of physically disadvantaged people who want to live independently. “As a country we believe in adequate housing for all, as it is a fundamental right, but because of all these obstacles we need to have better and more adequate estate management,” she said.

Minister Cristina concluded by reaffirming that, “our main engagement is that everyone has access to, and use of housing, according to their means – housing affordability, social housing for rent, and housing for people with special needs. These have to reflect today’s realities. We must continue to strengthen the mechanisms at hand, as well as reinforce incentives to meet with modern necessities and realities.’

MLP’s main spokesman for Social Protection Karl Chircop continued the debate, voicing his concern in that though it is a law which has long been awaited, it is not binding the minister by any time-frame, by which time this amalgamation should take place. “Once we have a solid amendment Bill, it must be adequately implemented. The opposition is very much in favour of this Bill and wants to see it speedily implemented,” he said.

The way in which these three entities are working, he reiterated, is leading to excessive bureaucracy and more abuse. Dr Chircop therefore outlined what Labour hopes will be achieved through these amendments;

1. That the time undertaken to fulfil projects is minimised considerably;

2. That transparency will increase;

3. That project variations shall decrease;

4. That certain injustices are done away with;

5. That justice shall be done with all the employees working with these departments, so that their job will not be in jeopardy – he said he was glad the minister had included this point within the Bill;

6.That bureaucracy in general is curtailed

The reason for housing, the MLP spokesman said, is that the very foundation behind our being is our dwelling and home. It should be looked at as a social investment, since people who have a home will be able to become more independent of government funding. It was the very impetus Labour governments gave during the 60’s and 70’s.

Dr Chircop also delineated certain problems social housing faces, namely the price of private property, and the amount of houses that are empty. “If we manage to address these problems, we would be doing the country a great service,” he said. The situation that young couples, single mothers and people in general are facing is that property has increased by an average of 4 times its price, whereas the workers’ wage has, if anything, increased by less than 2 times what it was, together with inflation having increased to 15.8% in 5 years, and the savings ratio being non-existent. Household debt has also increased from 29% to 53% of GDP in the past 5 years. This is a situation brought on by measures this government has chosen to adopt, the Labour MP stated.

He went on to elaborate on the Labour Party’s proposals in this area

• A 10% grant on price of the property;

• A subsidy on the bank loan for couples buying a house for the first time – fixing the interest rate at 4.5%. This will also apply to those that have already bought a house at Lm50,000;

• A maximum tax rate of 3.5% for those who bought a house costing up to Lm50,000;

• Those couples who have already signed a bank loan for a house, and one of them in the meantime becomes unemployed, will have a 1 year moratorium to find another job.

This scheme shall also encourage property developers to sell their property within this price bracket, because they shall be assured that they will get paid, Dr Chircop said.

As for the 35,000 houses which are empty – an astronomical problem compared to other countries, it has to be given due and proper importance, such as giving these residencies as alternative accommodation to others.