Housing and property prices have become quite the bone of contention in Malta. The challenge being faced by young people, in gainful employment, to be in a position to buy their first home, featured rather prominently during the recent electoral campaign with both sides promising ways of addressing it.
The Foundation for Affordable Housing Malta has been working on addressing this very problem directly, since its establishment in 2022, with tangible innovative solutions.
WhosWho.mt sat down with Foundation CEO Jake Azzopardi who considers housing as far more than a property transaction. “Access to homeownership is one of the most legitimate and fundamental aspirations a person can have,” Dr Azzopardi declares from the outset.
“Unfortunately, due to the unprecedented economic growth the country has been experiencing in the past years, which is a great thing in itself, we have been seeing more young people who are finding it extremely challenging to buy their first home. We are talking about people who are in gainful employment, often taking home very respectable pay packages, yet the property market has developed in a way that it is making it increasingly difficult for them to fulfil their aspiration of becoming homeowners.”
The Foundation for Affordable Housing was set up to address this very challenge. While demand for housing has continued to rise, many working people and middle-income families are increasingly struggling to access homes at a price-bracket that is affordable for them.
“The Foundation was intentionally designed to create a new channel within the housing sector, one capable of bridging the widening gap between the traditional private market and social housing. For years, the perception was that housing could only exist in two forms,” Dr Azzopardi explains. “Either developed by the private sector with profit as the primary driver or fully subsidised by the Government for the most vulnerable. But there increasingly is need for a third model. Housing can also be socially driven, financially sustainable and targeted towards average-income earners.”
This challenge has become evident in recent years, particularly as first-time buyers find themselves competing directly with investors in a competitive market.
“The reality is that many first-time buyers simply cannot compete with investors,” Dr Azzopardi says. “That is where we felt we could intervene meaningfully by placing homes on the market for sale or rent at fair and affordable prices.”
Over the past three years, the Foundation has introduced three major initiatives, each designed to address different housing realities.
“Our first instrument, launched just nine months after the Foundation’s establishment, was LoanUP, a product aimed at reducing part of the interest burden faced by first-time buyers. By lowering financing costs, the initiative enabled applicants to secure greater loan value and improving their chances of purchasing a home,” Dr Azzopardi explains.
“The following year we launched the Affordable Homes Initiative, which is placing hundreds of homes onto the market specifically targeted at average-income earners. Through this model, eligible buyers could benefit from discounts of at least 30 per cent, with some properties reaching reductions of up to 40 per cent.”
Recently, the Foundation published an Expression of Interest inviting owners of large buildings, especially vacant or under-utilised ones, to enter a medium- to long-term management agreement with the organisation. The Foundation will be revitalising these buildings into affordable co-living spaces where tenants enjoy the privacy of a private studio while living within a community with whom they share communal amenities.
Dr Azzopardi explained that in addressing the challenge of affordability, these spaces, which will be professionally managed, will be addressing the plight of loneliness cutting across different sectors of our society. They will also provide a springboard for youths seeking an affordable, temporary entry point into the property market and independent life.
The innovative housing model being introduced to the Maltese housing landscape through the revitalisation of vacant buildings at the heart of local villages means this is an environmentally as well as socially sustainable solution, explained the CEO.
While expecting interested owners to step forward and present their proposals, the Foundation already owns a convent in Kirkop where preparations have started for this dilapidated building to turn into one such co-living space.
Despite the progress registered over the past three years, Dr Azzopardi admits that one of the Foundation’s greatest challenges has been convincing stakeholders that affordable housing models could also remain sustainable in the long term.
“Many people initially struggled to believe that affordable housing in Malta could work without collapsing financially, under the weight of its own ambitions,” he says. “Building trust and attracting support for this way of thinking required a major cultural shift.”
Looking ahead, the Foundation is already preparing the next phase of its work, as it plans to place another 100 homes across Malta onto the market, while expanding its co-living initiatives further. At the same time, the Foundation is also preparing to enter the rental sector more directly, particularly in response to the growing pressures being experienced by tenants.
“The overburden rate within the rental market is becoming increasingly concerning,” Dr Azzopardi notes. “We believe this is another area where sustainable and socially conscious action is needed. At the end of the day, there is great satisfaction in helping someone achieve the right to call a place their home. That is the purpose we try to instil in everyone involved in the Foundation.”
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