Deliv­er­ing hous­ing justice

Social and afford­able hous­ing, com­monly referred to as hous­ing, is at the very core of Labour polit­ics. From provid­ing social hous­ing to pro­mot­ing afford­ab­il­ity, Labour’s com­mit­ment remains clear: mak­ing sure that Malta’s eco­nomic pro­gress trans­lates into

Home

His­tory clearly shows that the Labour Party is syn­onym­ous with hous­ing. Labour Prime Min­is­ter Dom Min­toff was a pion­eer­ing leader in this field. His premi­er­ship saw the con­struc­tion of extens­ive hous­ing projects across Malta and Gozo.

He provided people with their most basic need: a roof over their heads, a place to call home. Since then, Labour has never looked back. Today, I have the extraordin­ary priv­ilege of serving as the Min­is­ter respons­ible for social and afford­able hous­ing.

Dig­nity

Cir­cum­stances have changed since the Min­toff days, and people’s needs, chal­lenges, and aspir­a­tions have evolved drastic­ally, yet the need for afford­able hous­ing remains.

In fact, it has grown sig­ni­fic­antly. We have a thriv­ing eco­nomy, but the bene­fits of eco­nomic growth must reach every­one, includ­ing those strug­gling to find afford­able hous­ing or keep a roof over their heads. When a fam­ily enjoys hous­ing sta­bil­ity, it can live with dig­nity, plan, and par­ti­cip­ate fully in soci­ety.

This is the true mean­ing of a gov­ern­ment that works for every­one: a strong eco­nomy and a fairer, more inclus­ive, and more sup­port­ive soci­ety.

A clear plan

Labour’s elect­oral mani­festo is strong on social accom­mod­a­tion and on afford­able hous­ing.

In the elect­oral mani­festo, we have many excel­lent pro­pos­als for this sec­tor. Here’s a brief recap:

• 260 new afford­able hous­ing units to be sold at 30% below mar­ket value.

• 700 new social hous­ing units over the next five years.

• €16 mil­lion to restore and improve hous­ing estates.

• €15 mil­lion to install new aper­tures, photo­vol­taic (PV) pan­els, and heat pump water heat­ers in 1,000 social hous­ing units.

• The cre­ation of a Buy­ers’ Charter.

• Sim­pli­fy­ing the pro­cess of pay­ing tax when pur­chas­ing prop­erty.

• Greater pro­tec­tion for fam­il­ies with pre-1995 rental agree­ments.

• The cre­ation of a Prop­erty Register.

• Peace of mind for fam­il­ies who still do not have an offi­cial title to their homes.

Basic need

And much, much more. The hous­ing port­fo­lio is sens­it­ive and often very com­plex. But what is human dig­nity without a roof over one’s head?

Indeed, the Uni­ver­sal Declar­a­tion of Human Rights states that “Hous­ing is a basic human need and a fun­da­mental human right.” Like­wise, the United Nations Com­mit­tee on Eco­nomic, Social and Cul­tural Rights states that “Adequate hous­ing means more than hav­ing a roof over one’s head. It means hav­ing some­where to live in secur­ity, peace, and dig­nity.” Access to stable hous­ing is asso­ci­ated with bet­ter phys­ical and men­tal health, higher edu­ca­tional achieve­ment, and bet­ter employ­ment oppor­tun­it­ies.

I have recently read an inter­est­ing art­icle, from 2018, by lead­ing Maltese soci­olo­gist Dr. Michael Briguglio on this sub­ject, who argued that “Hous­ing afford­ab­il­ity is not only an eco­nomic issue but also a social one, as rising hous­ing costs can lead to exclu­sion, delayed inde­pend­ence among young people, and increased vul­ner­ab­il­ity among low-income house­holds.” (Times of Malta, 3 Decem­ber 2018)

Found­a­tions

I am suc­ceed­ing Andy Ellul and Rod­er­ick Galdes, whom I salute for their work in the sec­tor. I also salute all the Min­is­ters who served in this sec­tor and gave their con­tri­bu­tion both under Nation­al­ist and Labour gov­ern­ments: Dr Michael Falzon (PL); Pres­id­ent Emer­itus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca (PL); Dr Chris Said (PN); Dolores Cristina (PN); former Prime Min­is­ter Lawrence Gonzi (PN); Dr Edwin Grech (PL); Dr George Hyz­ler (PN); Pres­id­ent Emer­itus Dr Ugo Mif­sud Bon­nici (PN); Fred­die Mic­allef (PL); Patrick Hol­land (PL); Danny Cre­mona (PL); Guze Cas­sar (PL); and Pres­id­ent Emer­itus Agatha Bar­bara (PL).

Onwards

In my first days in this new role, I have begun meet­ing with the work­ers and lead­er­ship in the social hous­ing sec­tor. There are chal­lenges, but there are also oppor­tun­it­ies.

There are import­ant decisions to be made, and we will make them with a strong sense of social justice.

Wherever I have served, I have always given my very best. In every role I have held, I have strived to make a pos­it­ive dif­fer­ence and to carry out my duties with hon­esty and integ­rity. I believe trust is earned through hard work and con­sist­ency.

There­fore, I have always sought to serve those who entrus­ted me with respons­ib­il­ity in the best pos­sible way, as Min­is­ter for Edu­ca­tion, Justice, Cul­ture, Lands, and Local Gov­ern­ment, and now as Min­is­ter for Social and Afford­able Hous­ing and Lands over a stretch of 13 years plus.

Her Excel­lency Pres­id­ent Myriam Spi­teri Debono’s speech at the inaug­ur­a­tion of Par­lia­ment last week places a great respons­ib­il­ity upon us. Now it is time to roll up our sleeves, to give all our strength, and to give all our heart.

There are many ambi­tious reforms we must deliver. We face many chal­lenges, and we will over­come them together.