Housing equity sharing scheme to be extended to 25-year-olds, Prime Minister pledges

The housing equity sharing scheme will be extended to people aged 25 and over, Robert Abela announced on Sunday at the Labour Party’s Freedom Day activity in Birgu.

Emphasising the need for affordable housing, the Prime Minister said that in the coming days the government will unveil several affordable housing projects. He did not elaborate.

The equity sharing scheme is one where the government partners with individuals who, because of age and income, are unable to take out a bank loan that is enough to purchase their home. This scheme is currently open to people aged 30 and over.

The Prime Minister said the scheme will now be made available to people from the age of 25, in a bid to widen access to the property market to low income earners at a younger age.

Abela was addressing the party faithful, gathered at the foot of the Freedom monument in Birgu to commemorate the 46th anniversary of Freedom Day, which is celebarted tomorrow.

Freedom Day marks the departure of the last British forces from Malta in 1979.

Abela said Freedom Day reflected Malta’s economic freedom from dependence on the foreign military base. “We eradicated poverty, we attracted investment of high value added, we changed the rent laws, we reformed the IVF law, we closed down the dirty power station, and transformed landfills into family parks,” Abela said as he traversed the country’s economic and social transition.

He emphasised the importance of peace, calling it a “recipe for prosperity”, while recalling Labour prime minister Dom Mintoff’s yearning to make Malta a neutral country in favour of peace.

Abela reiterated his commitment that a Labour government will not invest in lethal weapons as he referred to the EU’s drive for greater investment in defence. “A Labour government will invest in people instead,” he insisted, adding Malta will not stand in the way of other EU countries just as they respected the country's neutrality.

He emphasised the strength of diplomacy, citing Malta's recent membership of the UN Security Council and the presidency of the OSCE as examples of Malta's diplomatic efforts on the international stage.

The Prime Minister took a dig at those protesting government's magisterial inquiry reform. "To those who will go about banging on their pots and pans, this is a reform we will see through and the only thing we will bang down on are our taxes," the Prime Minister said, referring to the income tax cut that came into force in January.

The magisterial inquiry reform is currently at committee stage and could clear its final parliamentary vote on Wednesday. A contentious aspect of the reform is the removal of an individual's right to directly ask for a magisterial inquiry into suspected wrongdoing.

"We are a movement built on humbleness... we are a movement that brought about true freedom to this country," he concluded.

The commemoration culminated with Abela and other party functionaries walking up the path to the top of the monument where they lit the urn and placed flowers.

The official State ceremony commemorating Freedom Day will take place tomorrow.