Amount of social housing units in Gozo enough to accommodate present need – government

The amount of social housing units found in Gozo are more than enough to accommodate the present need, the government has said.

The government has been working to reduce the waiting list for social housing by building more than 1,700 social housing units across the country, it said.

Social Housing Minister Roderick Galdes stated that social housing is not the only solution to reduce the risk of needing social housing. “Throughout the recent years we have put systems in place to regularise the rent market and other initiatives in order to ensure access to adequate accommodation.”

700 housing units were allocated in recent years, 103 of which were in Gozo, he said.

Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri said that all those who applied for social housing in Gozo and were eligible were given a unit.

Galdes went on to explain that “the amount of social housing units found in Gozo are more than enough to accommodate the present need and this is a show of the government’s commitment to the sister island.”

Closing off the press conference, Housing Authority CEO Leonid Mckay stated that one has to realise that Malta and Gozo possess two different realities when it comes to rent and property market. “These different realities prompted us to work and disrupt abuses by obtaining abandoned residential buildings and creating schemes to concretely tackle the waiting list.”