Housing a large and diverse population whose needs and realities are ever-changing is not an easy task for policy makers. This is because they change in time, they adapt in unpredictable ways and require a housing system that takes a broad approach to understanding the household.
An essay co-authored by Professor Marvin Formosa from the Department of Gerontology and Dementia Studies and Dr Rachael Scicluna, Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Spatial Planning & Infrastructure, titled ‘Towards an Age-Friendly Urban and Housing Policy in Malta’, takes into account the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to rethink the urban fabric of cities and spaces of wellbeing.
They depart from the fact that Malta has, in recent times, experienced rapid social, economic and legislative changes, with the household being at the core of such shifts. Coupled with the increasingly low fertility rates and increasing life expectancy, the population aged 60 and older reached 25.1% of the total population (NSO, 2018). Therefore, Professor Formosa and Dr Scicluna both advocate for household plasticity.
Older persons in Malta change accommodation less frequently when compared to younger age groups, with only about 5% of movers being aged 60 and over, and push factors being having a large house, living in a house in a bad condition, stairs negotiation and not-so-easy access to shops and other useful amenities.
In this respect, the Housing Authority in Malta offers, from time to time, a number of programmes that are very popular, such as subsidies for repair work in leased properties, and tax rebates for the installations of lifts.
The fact that there is no national housing policy in Malta means that the planning and design of the local housing market could benefit from an age-friendly approach while taking into account the household in flux as well as alternative domesticities.
Recognising the heterogeneity of needs of older people is another step towards creating research-based policy, the essay concludes.
The essay can be read in its entirety .
