Plans to establish an emergency shelter to accommodate people who find themselves with nowhere to stay on short notice were revealed by Social Solidarity Minister Michael Farrugia this afternoon.

The announcement was made during a seminar organised by Anti-Poverty Forum Malta which focused on homelessness.

The location of planned emergency shelter still needs to be chosen, although a property owned by the Housing Authority has been identified as a possible option. The authorities are collaborating with the Malta Archdiocese

Once set up, the shelter would be open 24 hours a day for those who urgently need a place to live in for a short while. It should have a capacity of up to 20 people, who would be expected to stay there temporarily until other arrangements are made.

But the emergency shelter is also set to be the only facility in Malta which would cater to people using methadone to overcome a heroin addiction, and provide them with a place to stay until they find a place in the various residential drug rehabilitation programmes that are to be found around Malta.

In a lengthy address at the conference, Dr Farrugia also acknowledged that there were many families who were sorely in need of assistance - including on housing - who were not being reached by the authorities. He said that many were embarrassed about the situation they were in, and were thus reluctant to seek help.

At the same time, he lamented, there were others who were far louder in seeking assistance, but who were not deserving of it, lying to receive assistance they did not truly need at the expense of others who did. The minister noted that he was aware of cases of people who even appeared on television programmes claiming to be homeless, only for investigations to find their situation to be considerably different.

Nevertheless, he emphasised that there were many genuine cases of people and families in need of assistance.