Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure MT-2020-18/1620 – measures in Malta
Country | Malta , applies nationwide |
Time period | Open ended, started on 30 April 2020 |
Context | COVID-19 |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Measures to prevent social hardship
– Keeping or obtaining a safe home |
Author | Luke Anthony Fiorini (University of Malta) and Eurofound |
Measure added | 22 December 2020 (updated 15 November 2021) |
Individuals who do not own their own home and became unemployed during COVID-19 or lost a substantial amount of their income suddenly faced difficulties in keeping up with rental payments on their home.
Prior to the onset of COVID-19 the Government of Malta provided a scheme entitled the 'Private Rent Housing Benefit Scheme' for individuals who struggled to keep up with rental payments. This had originally been introduced in view of ever-rising rental costs in Malta. Government updated this scheme in light of COVID-19 to allow impacted individuals to apply.
Individuals who were now able to apply included workers who have been laid off due to COVID-19, those suspended from work, self-employed people whose income had decreased drastically, as well as to victims of domestic violence.
The Private Rent Housing Benefit Scheme provides a benefit with regards to the rent paid on residences rented from the private sector in order to make these more affordable. The benefit is calculated on the basis of the applicants' income as well as the cost of their rent.
The scheme has the following criteria: that the applicant is the recognised tenant of the property; that the applicant has a formal contract with the landlord which covers at least six months but does not exceed 21 years; the applicant must be a Maltese or EU citizen or a formal refugee; the applicants must have been living in Malta for at least 18 consecutive months before the date of the application; the home is in a habitable state and meets applicable laws including those related to rental contract laws.
The Scheme is managed by the Housing Authority.
It was announced that in some cases up to 80% of the rent was being covered by the Government. In mid April 2020 it was announced that 60% of applicants were those who had already been receiving some form of rent benefits, whereas 40% were individuals who had not previously received any rent subsidy. 72% of applicants were employees, while 28% were self-employed.
It was reported in June 2021 that 2,387 families were benefitting from rental assistance. This statistic, however, does not refer to those who are receiving support since COVID-19, but rather all those making use of the rental assistance scheme. Of the beneficiaries, the majority live alone, whilst 779 are single parents with up to two dependent children, and 374 are couples with dependent children. During COVID-19, support for rental deposits and payment of the first rent instalment was also given to low income families; 84 families benefitted from this.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Applies to all workers | Does not apply to businesses | Applies to all citizens |
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
Other social actors (e.g. NGOs) |
National funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | Unknown | Unknown |
Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The involvement of social partners in this measure is not known. However, on announcing that the measure would be extended to those impacted by COVID-19. the minister responsible thanked various NGOs as well as an employers' association. These included: YMCA, Aditus Foundation, Moviment Graffitti and the Malta Developers Association.
No reviews have been expressed with regards to this scheme.
Citation
Eurofound (2020), Rental assistance for employees impacted by COVID-19, measure MT-2020-18/1620 (measures in Malta), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/MT-2020-18_1620.html
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