Mother hails residential programme during personal meeting with minister

Charmaine Pace, a mother of three, has credited the government’s halfway residential programme with allowing her to get back on her feet.

During a meeting with family minister Michael Farrugia at her own home, Pace said that the scheme had allowed her to get a full time job and find an adequate place to live with her children despite having been dependant on social benefits in the past.

Farrugia said that his ministry’s schemes ultimately aimed to empower people in vulnerable positions.

Pace said that she was enjoying the benefits of both the half way residential scheme, as well as in work benefits and child care facilities for her younger children.

People eligible for the scheme are identified through LEAP centres, Appogg, as well as residential homes like Dar Merhba Bik and Dar San Guzepp  among others. Criteria for the scheme include having a full time job and residing in a residential home like Dar Merhba Bik.

Under the scheme, the ministry subsidises 65% of the beneficiaries’ rent for the first three years with the aim of allowing them to get back on their feet. The three year period is also characterised by checks from the centres to make sure they were benefitting from the system.

After the three year period, Pace will also see her social benefits tapering slowly from 65% in the first year to 45% in the second year and 25% in the third year.