Housing Authority chairman exhorts tenants to lodge requests for housing repairs

However, the Authority in its reply did not deny the fact that the Housing and Construction Department had been dismantled.

Housing Authority Chairman Charles Borg claimed, in a statement issued in response to a press conference by Labour-led Santa Lucija major Frederick Cutajar about the neglect of Government apartments in the locality, that tenants “can contact the Housing Authority to lodge requests for repairs in common areas of block of apartments and they can do this free of charge”.

During yesterday’s press Santa Lucija major Frederick Cutajar had explained how until last year, tenants in government apartments could apply for maintenance works directly to the Housing and Department.

However, in the past year, tenants had been forced to go to the HA to apply for maintenance in government flats, having to pay a fee of €40 to obtain the application.

Addressing a PL press conference on the neglect of government housing estates over the years outside a Santa Lucija government-owned housing estate, he had explained that once the application was approved, the tenants would have to engage a private contractor to do the works, which was causing a lot of hassle to residents.

Moreover, Cutajar had lamented that the government was failing to maintain common areas in government-owned flats, leading to neglect in Government-owned apartments.

Journalists were shown an apartment block strewn with graffiti and a letter box room which had been left in the dark.

In his reply, Borg explained how local councils could also contact the authority to “report any repairs in common areas of Government housing blocks in their locality.

“When such reports are received, technical persons will follow up the requests and proceed with the inspections accordingly. Requests are then classified according to the urgency,” Borg added.

 The HA, he revealed, was issuing a number of tenders “to be able to meet such requests particularly for urgent structural works, drainage-related problems, and repairs in electrical systems”.

A programme of works on the façade of housing blocks was also being prepared, Borg added.

Moreover, the Authority was promoting the development of “residents’ associations in housing blocks which shall be responsible for the maintenance of common areas.

This was being carried out “particularly where lifts are installed since the association shall be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the lift”, the HA Chairman added.

MaltaToday has learnt that this requirement has been included as a condition in the contract for all HA-issued flats at least since 1991, but had not been included previously.

“The mayor himself admitted that many problems in the area are caused because of disagreements between residents and is well aware that maintenance works in common areas are ultimately the responsibility of the tenants,” Borg claimed.

“The Housing Authority is not responsible for vandalism,” he insisted.

In yesterday’s press conference, Cutajar had explained how there were “often disagreement between residents” in maintaining common areas and in installing lifts and intercoms, among other things.

Labour’s main spokesperson for Planning Roderick Galdes yesterday had accused the government of dismantling the construction and maintenance department when the department of social housing was merged with the Housing Authority (HA) a few years ago, instead of keeping the department within the merged authority.

“As a result of this, the expertise of a few people who knew inside out the various government estates across Malta has been lost,” he had insisted.

“Labour does not agree with the dismantling of the Social Housing Department,” the Labour MP had added.

On his part, Labour’s main spokesperson for Housing Stefan Buontempo had insisted that these government flats were national capital assets and therefore they had “to be maintained property”.

He had also announced that the PL would be organising training courses for local councillors starting from September to train them how to deal with housing issues as the Government had failed to set up a promised one-stop shop for councils to help them deal with housing issues had not materialised.

“If the Government does not give councils the tools with, the PL would,” the Labour MP had insisted.