Photos obtained by TheJournal.mt show the finishing touches being made to apartments in Birkirkara, Ħal Kirkop and Ħ’Attard, as these are now a few weeks away from welcoming their new tenants in March.

These units are part of the 1,700 apartments being built in 16 sites around Malta and Gozo.

A total of 99 apartments will see new tenants entering in March. These include 73 apartments in Birkirkara, 18 in Ħal Kirkop and 8 in Ħ’Attard.

Apart from these units, 62 garages and 3 car spaces in the vicinity of the new blocks will also be allocated.

In line with the committments made by Government, the ownership of these units will be retained by the State rather than transferred to the new tenants. This paradigm shift in social housing in Malta will seek to help those needing a helping hand to find society’s support to get back on their feet and aspire to conitnue moving forward. 

At the beginning of this year, the social housing waiting list stood at 1,294. Projections published by the Ministry for Social Housing show that this number is expected to fall beneath the 800 mark later this year.

In 2023, social accommodation sites financed by the National Development and Social Fund enter their final phases. These will push the waiting list further down towards ‘zero’ for the first time in Malta’s recent history.

The projects currently under construction have adhered to all public procurement regulations, and unlike in previous social accommodation projects, no ODZ land was taken for these units.

Speaking on social media, Housing Authority CEO Leonid Mckay said that few believed that Malta could one day address the social accommodation waiting list.

“For years the list exceeded 3,000 persons, but this has been reduced to below 1,300 in less than four years,” said Mckay.