Action for Housing have issued a statement addressing alleged comments made by the Minister for Housing about government rental housing in Gibraltar.

A statement Action for Housing follows below:

Action for Housing would like to address recent claims purportedly made by the Minister for Housing, Pat Orfila, during a meeting with Gibraltarians of Moroccan Origin. The Minister purportedly claimed that there is no money to build new government rental stock and attributed the current housing shortage to the sale of up to 1,000 flats by the previous GSD administration.

Action for Housing has thoroughly investigated these claims, and after analysing Hansard, we note that former Minister Samantha Sacramento, during her speech on the Appropriation Bill on 3rd July 2018, confirmed that 181 post-war rental flats were sold by the GSD. Additionally, we note that the current administration (GSLP) has continued to sell post-war rental flats. Former Minister Steven Linares stated in Parliament on 16th March 2021 that between 2011 and 2020, 116 post-war flats were sold by the Government. Although the Chief Minister had maintained that it was not the Government’s policy to sell post-war stock, exceptions were supposedly made where prior agreements required it or where it was justified.

Regarding pre-war rental stock, both the GSD and GSLP administrations have sold flats, although specific figures for the previous administration are unavailable. Former Minister Steven Linares also stated in Parliament on 16th March 2021 that between 2011 and 2020, 20 pre-war flats were sold by the current Government. This means that the GSLP administration between 2011 and 2020 sold a total of 136 rental stock flats.

The current administration has not developed any new rental housing during its time in office (other than flats for pensioners), despite committing to do so in all its manifestos, with the last significant rental stock project being the Mid-Harbours estate by the previous administration. The ongoing sale of rental stock, particularly in the face of increased demand, reduces the number of homes available to those on Gibraltar’s growing housing waiting list. We call on the Government to comply with their manifesto commitments and to finally prioritise the development of new rental housing to meet the needs of the community.

We further call on the Government to clarify whether the legal requirement under the Housing Act, which mandates that proceeds from the sale of public housing be reinvested into public housing, has been met. In the absence of new rental developments, the community deserves transparency on how funds from these sales have been utilised. We would like to see clear and accountable reporting on the reinvestment of funds generated from the sale of public housing made public.