I was contacted to meet a family a few weeks ago. I duly visited
their home in St Julian’s. I entered and was shocked. Belongings were packed,
basic household appliances were missing, and poverty was screaming in silence
at me. An eerie atmosphere haunted the house, despite its good natural light.
This was not in some peripheral forgotten far away land:
This was bang in the heart of St Julian’s, just a few metres away from the
parish church.
The son, 50 years old, and his mother, 75, told me their
situation. They are both sick, and he will soon be operated upon. He cannot
work, she was widowed some years ago. They did not have enough money to bury the
husband and father, so she had to sell her wedding ring and other stuff to do
so. They have been living here for 37 years, after the Housing Authority gave
them this house instead of anther one which had structural damage.
This house in St Julian’s had damages too. This and various
legal cases about the property left them impoverished, and the Court of Justice
recently said that they must be evacuated whilst Government must provide
alternative housing for them. So far this has not been forthcoming, and they
are afraid they will end up in the street unless urgent action is taken by the
Authorities.
The Authorities: The two leaders in this sector are
Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes and Housing Chief Leonid Mackay. Both
are gentlemen, and I have no doubts about their genuine commitment to the
sector. The problem is elsewhere.
The problem is that Government is so happy congratulating
itself about the best of times that it is downplaying the realities being faced
by many people on the ground. There currently is a waiting list of around 3,300
people for social housing and another 600 who desperately need to change their
social housing. The former includes persons suffering in silence, some of whom
I met and who need security in their precarious lives. The latter include
people I visited, for example elderly persons who live high up and have no
lift. To these one must add the increasing number of people who are being
evicted from their homes due prohibitive rent costs and the many young
middle-class and working-class youth who keep living with their parents because
they cannot afford a house loan or rent.
In such a situation, one must agree that it is the duty of
Government, and not of property owners to assist persons in need. The current
Government knows how to speed things up when it wants to: The introduction of
the sale of passports and the widening of roads are just two cases in point.
But when it comes to social housing, so far five years have been wasted. And
while the price of property has become prohibitive for many, the risk of
homelessness or substandard housing is real and rising.
The Nationalist Party is doing its utmost to help such
persons in need even from its role within opposition. Being in politics gives you the privilege to meet
people with a myriad of different realities, some of which are very different
from what we see on our screens. Spokesperson Ivan Bartolo, myself and others refer cases to the authorities, as
we believe that solidarity should not succumb to pique. But as Malta’s
alternative government we also promise to ensure that everyone will have decent
housing once we are entrusted to power.
This article appeared in The Malta Independent
