Soaring rental prices now 'a major social problem', Busuttil warns

The cost of renting property has increased so much in recent years that it has become a major social problem, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil warned.

“There are many people who have separated from their spouses, but cannot afford to rent their own property,” Busuttil said during an interview on L-Iswed fuq l-Abjad. “An apartment that used to cost between €200 and €300 a month a few years ago now costs as much as €900. How can a person on a minimum wage afford that? Housing has become a serious social problem in this country, and the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the government is insensitive and incapable of carrying out social justice.” 

During his interview, Busuttil also lambasted the Labour government for failing to build any new social housing units and for not yet making good on its Budget promise to reverse the 2014 rise of social housing rents from €185 to €203 a year.

“The economy is doing well thanks to the foundations that PN administrations had laid in place, but what’s the point of having a strong economy if there are people living in poverty and if there is a major housing problem?”

‘Election will be choice between right and wrong’

Simon Busuttil reiterated his mantra that the upcoming election will not be a choice between the PN and the PL but between “right and wrong”.

“People will forget whether they are Nationalists, Labourites or disinterested voters but will vote with their conscience to clean up politics in this country once and for all,” he said.

Busuttil confidently claimed that he has the support of the silent majority, who cannot back a government implicated in the Panama Papers scandal.

“It is unacceptable, both for me and the Maltese public, that people high up in Castille [Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri] opened secret Panama companies in which they planned to deposit commissions earned from corruption.

“I believe that there is a silent majority in Malta and Gozo who have a conscience and who will vote with their conscience to say that such things are unacceptable and aren’t being carried out in their names.”