Government orders Housing Authority audit

The government will be carrying out an audit at the Housing Authority before panning out its strategy for the sector, social policy minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca said today.

Speaking during a visit to the authority's offices in Floriana, the Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity said that the new government intends to address the problems afflicting the authority by ensuring that it operates efficiently and transparently.

"Unfortunately we have inherited an authority with around 2,800 applications on its waiting list," Coleiro Preca said.
She explained that the audit exercise would dissect the authority's operations and identify how it can speed up the processing of applications and become more efficient and customer friendly.

"Delayed social justice is social justice denied," the minister said.

However, Coleiro Preca would not say when the audit would be finalised, saying: " I can assure you that the government will keep its deadlines, that is the way forward for the new administration."

Asked what the government's strategy in social housing is, Coleiro Preca said that the government will implement the Labour Party's electoral pledges and it would only be in a position to shape its policy and strategy when the audit is completed.

Labour's electoral manifesto included a pledge to introduce housing projects with the participation of the private sector which will provide dwellings which could either be sold or rented out.

However, she pointed out that following the election, the Housing Authority was in possession of only three government owned properties, adding that the new government would be addressing the situation immediately.

She added that the authority's new board would also be appointed in the coming weeks.

Since becoming minister after the 9 March election, scores of people reportedly lined up at Coleiro Preca's offices and the minister today said that her office was bombarded by calls from persons who have been on Housing Authority waiting list for up to 15 years.

In addition, the minister pointed out that the authority has no funds to issue the April salaries but the government would be allocating funds to cover these expenses. In the absence of an approved budget government expenditure in 2013 was restricted to a third of the previous year's approved expenditure.