The government received 221 opinion papers regarding the distribution of public housing units to residents during a public consultation period running for 90 days last year, amounting to 310 total opinions divided into 11 main themes. The Housing Bureau published its analysis of the opinions yesterday. Of primary interest was the treatment of ‘families with higher income than the stated limit’ and that of ‘rich families’ amounting to 70 submissions; revision of the minimum age for individual candidates, with 52 submissions; flexibility of the restrictions for candidate qualification of the family members who benefit from other benefits – 34; the problem of dog ownership – 34; introduction of the points deduction system by the administrators of social housing – 26; revision of the provisions prohibiting land ownership – 24; criteria for classification – 18; clear definition of the ‘family units with income over the determined maximum limit’ and ‘rich families’ – 18; number of opportunities for allocation – 13; increase in the rent percentage for ‘rich families’ – 11 and flexibility of the restriction of the net assets of elderly candidates – 10 submissions. The Bureau noted that it was ‘grateful for the opinions and proposals presented by the different social sectors’ and would ‘proceed in the future to the respective legislative steps in order to improve the tender for public housing’.
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