During the year 2025, almost one family became a homeowner every day through the Housing Authority’s schemes. These schemes are built on three main objectives: to strengthen homeownership in our country, reduce the rent burden on renters and improve the quality and adequacy of the homes in which families live.
These results were presented during a meeting between the Minister for Housing and Lands Owen Bonnici, Permanent Secretary Ramon Deguara and the leadership of the Housing Authority, which this year is commemorating its fiftieth anniversary since its establishment. During the meeting, the Authority’s achievements during 2025 as reflected in its Annual Report were discussed, while the Strategic Plan for the period 2027–2029 was also presented.
In 2025, the Housing Authority assisted more than 15,200 families through an investment of €50 million. Of these, 339 families were given the necessary support to become homeowners.
Minister Owen Bonnici said that these results show how the Government’s policy in the housing sector is continuing to make a concrete difference in people’s lives.
“When almost every day a family is achieving the dream of becoming a homeowner, we are seeing the result of a policy that places people at the centre of its decisions. Housing is not just a roof over families’ heads, but a foundation for security, dignity and a better quality of life. We will continue to invest so that more people have the opportunity to build a stable future for themselves and their families,” said Minister Bonnici.
The Chief Executive of the Housing Authority, Matthew Zerafa, said that the Authority is changing from an entity that reacts to challenges to one that anticipates them. “Through investment in technology, research and smarter systems, we are creating an agile organisation that is capable of providing solutions to today’s needs and preparing for tomorrow’s realities. All this to offer more efficient, more modern and increasingly closer services to the people.”
The Annual Report also highlights significant improvements in other areas of the Authority’s work. The digital transformation has led to more efficient services and a substantial reduction in waiting times, with the average processing time for applications for the Rent Benefit Scheme decreasing from 69 days to 23 days.
At the same time, an investment of over €4.2 million led to the regeneration of 79 residential blocks, the installation of 42 new lifts and 1,207 maintenance and repair interventions. The Authority also continued to expand its services towards the most vulnerable people through almost 1,000 assessments by the team of social workers, an extensive outreach programme and collaboration with NGOs and community groups. In addition, it continued to collaborate with other entities to facilitate the reintegration of persons leaving the Corradino Correctional Facility and introduced new measures to strengthen support for persons fleeing situations of domestic violence.
The Authority is also looking to the future through the Strategic Plan 2027–2029, which establishes a vision for an increasingly modern, innovative and people-oriented Authority.
By 2028, the goal is for the Authority to become completely paperless, with a single portal for all schemes, more efficient processes and a network of regional centres across Malta and Gozo so that services continue to move closer to the communities.
The plan also includes investments in the sustainability and energy efficiency of social housing, as well as a more widespread use of Artificial Intelligence to speed up the processing of applications and improve services.
