Page 13 - Housing & Poverty In Malta With A Focus On The Southern Harbour Region

4. Housing and Poverty

Social housing has long been an important element in the Maltese safety net. During the
past decade, the number of social housing applicants has increased by over 20% per
annum. A fundamental conundrum, however, still remains. Some of the applicants for
social housing are not considered to be poor, whereas others who are poor, and therefore
eligible, for some reason fail to apply.

Some indicators, such as those for substandard accommodation, income distribution and
social development suggest that the actual number of social housing units may fall short
of the true need for social housing provision. Out of the outstanding housing applicants
in the year 2000, 379 lived in dangerous dwellings, whereas another 542 lived in
substandard accommodation, giving a total of 921 inadequately housed applicants.
However, the numbers of occupied substandard and inadequate accommodations,
respectively, were 6,792 (as per the 1995 census) and 939, yielding a total of 7,731
inadequately housed households. This figure contrasts markedly with the 921 yielded by
summating the inadequately-housed housing applicants. Potentially housing applications
could go up by at least 6,810.

The poverty line, by all means an extreme measure of poverty, in Malta given by taking
50% of the mean disposable income stood at LM 2,000 per annum. By this measure, 16%
of Malta’s population lives below the poverty line, which translates into 19,000 people
circa. Outstanding housing applications, however, are just over 3,000.

The Maltese affordability crisis is also mirrored in the fact that at the time of Camilleri’s
study (2000) 360 persons were separated but still living under the same roof and another

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