The government has spent a total of €8.4 million in rent subsidies, helping around 4,200 families, Social Accommodation Minister Roderick Galdes said on Monday.
In parliament, answering a question by PL MP Randolph Debattista, Galdes said that how it was before 2022, such a benefit only covered around €60 of monthly rent. However this was increased to a maximum of €130.
Galdes said that such a subsidy, which is based on how much the person earns, is not calculated on the price of property in areas which are considered as luxurious such as Sliema and St Julians, but rather on central and south areas.
Answering a question by PN MP Ivan Bartolo, on overcrowdedness in housing authority property, the minister said that this is the result of intergenerational poverty coming from lack of education.
He said that most cases are of children who are living with their parents. Such problems might be as a result of early pregnancies where the parent might not even have reached the legal age to work.
“We need to improve the life skills,” he said.
Galdes said that the situation needs to be studied to get to the root of why people find themselves in difficult financial situations.
Additionally the government is also working with several NGO’s and the church to offer social services.
Answering a question by PL MP Davinia Sammut Hili, the minister said that in total 120 families have become owners of their own home after benefitting from a government scheme.
Such families would have been living in old government apartments, and have been given the opportunity, through several schemes to become owners of their current home.
In answering a question by PL MP Omar Farrugia, Galdes said that in 2022 there were a total of 31 evictions from government properties, which needed the assistance of the police.
The minister said that some were fraudulently occupying the place whilst others had no right to reside in there anymore yet refused to leave the property.
Additionally others just went in, after seeing the property empty without being on awaiting list, whilst the worse were renting the property to tourists on applications such as Airbnb for commercial purposes.
He added that such cases have been passed to the police.