From 2017 to date, maintenance and improvement works have been carried out on more than 600 blocks in social accommodation areas. This means that out of the existing stock, amounting to 1,117 blocks, works have been carried out to make a meaningful difference on 54% of the stock which is spread all over the country.
Minister for Social Accommodation Roderick Galdes announced this during a visit to the residential area of Ħal Mula in Żebbuġ, where he gave an overview of the maintenance and improvement works carried out in the blocks of social housing areas scattered around Malta and Gozo.
Minister Roderick Galdes stressed how the promise to regenerate all social housing blocks is being kept. In fact, by the end of this year, improvement and regeneration works on facades will be completed on another 61 blocks. Through the collaborative scheme with local councils, there will be improvement works of the common parts in another 112 blocks around Malta and Gozo and, through strong investment from the Regional Development Fund being channelled into the scheme of installation of elevators, there shall be 158 blocks which will have a new lift installed by the end of 2022.
Parts of the existing stock of social housing were constructed as far back as the 1970s. From this date of construction onwards, the necessary maintenance was never provided. In Minister Galdes’ words, “Whoever did not take care of this building did not take care of the families residing in it.”
The housing system we are implementing, continued Minister Roderick Galdes, takes care of people and families, and seeks to improve their standard of living. “It is a system that we are designing and implementing hand in hand with the community. As we are putting people before stone, we are really strengthening communities,” concluded Minister Roderick Galdes.
These works were carried out through the joint work of the Ministry for Social Accommodation, the Housing Authority, SPM Ltd, Housing Maintenance and Embellishment Ltd, as well as with the investment brought in by the European Regional Development Fund. With these works, which will be completed by the end of this year, the government’s investment from the budget for social accommodation will have reached €12 million. In addition to this figure, the Housing Authority has obtained European funds to cover most of the expenses related to the new lifts that are being installed to make all residences accessible.
The Housing Authority’s CEO Leonid McKay said that there have been as many interventions in the existing buildings of the Housing Authority as those being conducted presently. Mr McKay stated that there was a choice between doing the bare minimum and only caring for structural works related to the integrity of buildings, or investing in brighter, more accessible and more aesthetically pleasing buildings. He expressed satisfaction with the Housing Authority’s work in recent months and not only saw its successful implementation of social reforms in the renting sector, but that it has also prioritised interventions in more than half of the social housing buildings, many of which were built fifty years ago or more. Mr McKay concluded by saying that, in the coming months, the Authority shall increase the dose of these works. That is why, in the past few weeks, the Authority also launched the Housing Development Fund, so that different sources of funds may be used to improve the quality of life of the people living in these buildings and their neighbourhoods.