Fewer than 1,800 people are currently on the social housing waiting list, Leonid McKay, Chief Executive Officer of the Housing Authority, told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

The number of people on the waiting list has been on a downward trend since 2017, when the number stood at 3,810.

The statistics provided date back to 2012, when the number of people on the waiting list stood at 2,773.

“The waiting list has decreased considerably over the last few years. It has once again decreased since the end of last year (when 2,380 people were on the waiting list) and now stands at less than 1,800.  Part of this decrease is due to the procurement of additional stock of dwellings through the rehabilitation of dilapidated ones and an initiative to lease dwellings from the private sector so that they may be leased for social accommodation,” McKay said.

“The waiting list has also decreased through three initiatives to incentive home-ownership, including one specific scheme aimed at low-income earners through which the Housing Authority makes monthly contributions towards loan repayments. The recently launched New Hope scheme will also cater for some individuals who could otherwise have to request social housing.”The New Hope Scheme aims to assist aspiring homeowners who wish to acquire their primary residence but are unable to obtain a life insurance policy because of a disability, medical condition or history. The assistance will be in the form of a guarantee that will cover a maximum loan of €250,000 on property that will be used as a primary residence.

“The decrease is also due to the increased scrutiny of applications on the waiting list which allows us to re-evaluate cases more frequently,” McKay said.

“This allows us to prioritize cases which need attention but also to strike off applicants who are no longer eligible for alternative accommodation (social housing). Many of the cases stricken off recently were due to the applicants earning substantially higher income thanks to the substantial economic growth in recent years,” McKay said.

Asked about the determining factors in terms of who is at the top of the waiting list, and whether urgent cases could be moved up, McKay said that applications for alternative accommodation (social housing) are prioritized solely according to the applicants’ needs. 

“The length of time an applicant would have been on the waiting list is taken into consideration yet is not the determining factor when the allocation process is being processed. Social work assessments are the determining factor, and according to the urgency of cases.”