“We are putting people at the center of the national housing system, because our families need adequate housing to live their lives with dignity and satisfaction,” said Minister for Social Accommodation Roderick Galdes at the launch of the vision of the first National Housing System in Malta.
He added that the decision to hold this consultation to design, for the first time in Malta, a holistic housing system was driven by the government’s ethos, which, despite making important advances in this sector, will keep moving forward to ensure that housing in Malta doesn’t only meet the needs of the present generation, but also that it will be future-proof.
“In my time as Minister for Social Accommodation, this sector has made great strides forward, but despite the substantial improvements we have experienced, we recognise the need for a structured policy framework that brings a new era of professionalism to the way we implement housing in our country.”
He said this in an address he made to the representatives of more than fifty different stakeholders who gathered around a table for two days of workshops organised by the Ministry for Social Accommodation, during which the main themes of the first housing system in our country will be discussed. Stakeholders include academics from the Faculty of Architecture and Social Wellbeing within the University of Malta, the Malta Developers Association, the Richmond Foundation, YMCA and many others.
Minister Roderick Galdes stated that it is against the background of this wide-ranging consultation that, “this long-term vision that we are creating together will have real and tangible effects on the quality of life of our communities. Both on the communities of the present and those of the future. That is why I firmly believe that we will look back on these discussions with a sense of pride and positivity.”
The consultation for this housing system in Malta has also been extended to foreign professors with extensive experience in shaping housing policy. In fact, the launch was also addressed by the Director of the Center for Housing Policy at the University of York, Professor Nicholas Pleace.
In his speech, he reiterated that “The wider European experience has shown the need for a national housing system like that being taken forward by the Ministry for Social Accommodation in Malta. Without clear planning, many other European countries have experienced problems of insufficient supply of affordable housing, including poverty being generated by very high housing costs and issues with area deprivation and associated social problems, including unemployment and uneven economic development”
