Counting the homeless in Malta

Abstract

There are no visible signs of homelessness in Malta similar to what can be seen on the streets of many North American or European cities, yet there are few hundred homeless who stay in shelters and another few thousand households that are at risk of being homeless. Malta has a comparatively sizeable social housing sector (9000–10,000) and approximately 3300 households on its waiting list. There is, however, no official recognition of homelessness, no definition and thus, no program to alleviate the problem—the problem is hidden under the facade of strong family ties, community cohesion and the benevolent state. This paper has two major objectives: (1) an attempt to define and suggest a framework in counting the homeless in Malta; (2) identify and examine major contributing factors to homelessness in Malta. Although the study suggests some contributing factors, the task of establishing causal relationships between possible sources of homelessness and actual homelessness is outside the scope of this preliminary study. This study concerns only with the section of the larger homeless spectrum, namely those who stay in temporary shelters. The article indicates general features, interpreting from the existing information, which is indicative rather than conclusive. In addition to information collected from government and non-governmental institutions, the study benefits from data collected through in-depth interviews from two homeless shelters. Although, the quantitative data is small and more cases would be needed to give an appropriate overview, it is hoped that the two issues that are identified (domestic violence and children in homes) would generate discussion. Furthermore, it is hoped that the ideas of “spectrum” and segmentation can be shown to be useful in facilitating collection of data and identification of possible sources of homelessness in Malta and in other culturally similar EU countries. The result of the small sample puts forward some issues and raises some others regarding the change in traditional family structure, the role of the state and how public policy is formed, particularly in Malta.