Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/765642
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 21 DECEMBER 2016 News Caritas drop-in centre in October ager Anthony Debattista ex- plained that homelessness does not necessarily refer to roof less- ness, and that it is a very broad spectrum. The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) launched in 2005 the European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion (ETHOS), which outlines four different situations that fall under 'home- lessness'. They explained that there is roof lessness, where people find themselves without a shelter of any kind; house- lessness where they temporar- ily have a place to sleep in in- stitutions or shelter; living in insecure housing, where the individuals are threatened with severe exclusion due to insecure tenancies, eviction, domestic vi- olence; and living in inadequate housing as a result of unfit hous- ing or extreme overcrowding. Fondazzjoni Suriet il-Bniedem houses ex-inmates, women and their children, and people with mental health issue, as well as works to rehabilitate its resi- dents and improve their condi- tions. It operates through con- tractual agreements with other organisations, such as Mount Carmel and the Foundation for Social Welfare Solidarity. Debattista explained that homelessness is not necessarily related to poverty. This means that, despite the fact that Eu- rostat figures show that severe material deprivation in Malta dropped to 8.1% in 2015, after peaking at 10.2% the previous year, the rate of homelessness in Malta could actually be much higher than just the number of people in homeless shelters. "The people we see are from different walks of life. Lately we're seeing a number of our mental issues cases who are 'working homeless', who are able to hold down a job due to the increased availability of medi- cations. Freedom of movement has also resulted in a rise in foreign homeless people," Deb- attista said. "Homeless women are on the rise, most probably due to weaker social cohesion. Women just don't find as much support as they used to when their marriage hits the rocks," he added, referring to an exam- ple of women who is forced to leave the matrimonial home due to an abusive relationship. According the social solidar- ity minister Michael Farrugia, Foundation for Social Welfare Services assists people facing homelessness due to poverty by allocating them in homeless shelters run by NGOs, despite housing not falling within its remit. "By the end of May 2016, the number of homeless people liv- ing in homeless shelters due to the Private Social Partnerships between the foundation and NGOs, stood at 40 in total," Far- rugia said. Until June of this year the housing authority had 2,835 ap- plicants for alternative accom- modation spread on several cat- egories, the minister added. Caruana allegedly took 'thank you' payments CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Caruana happens to be the brother of the education ministry's permanent secretary Joseph Caruana. In delivering timely payment to the FTS suppliers – given that the government tends to be lead- footed when it comes to such payments – some of these con- tractors would allegedly sign the back of any one cheque, so that Caruana himself would be able to cash the cheque. These are being taken as hav- ing been 'thank you' payments for Caruana's timely payments, which he would deliver person- ally. The payments often ran in the thousands. Evarist Bartolo is claiming he took action upon being informed of the accusations, publishing emails in Parliament showing that he advised appointees to take their accusations to the police. But as evidence is being gath- ered the excuse that no one in the education ministry knew what was happening, is turning out to be difficult to believe. HSBC Malta is actively involved in providing the police with de- tails of the individual cheques, which is the evidence giving con- firmation of the real facts. In another twist, police are also investigating the role played by Cornela Tabone, an architect who signed off works in Gozo which are alleged not to have tak- en place. Tabone works from the office of Carmelo Borg a former Labour MP. Police investigators have also interrogated one of the FTS ten- derers, Sandro Ciliberti, in con- nection to tenders awarded to him, and about his association with Edward Caruana and L & A Camilleri, a firm owned by Piju Camilleri, well known former henchman of the late Lorry Sant, a notorious Labour minister from the eighties. Yesterday the Nationalist Party unveiled a banner over the ex- tensive Rabat property owned by Caruana. The PN's banner reads "Mit- taxxi taghna lkoll – Awguri Var- ist" – in a sardonic claim that the house was a Christmas present from Bartolo out of the public purse. It is also a cheeky dig at the Labour Party's 2013 electoral slo- gan 'Malta Taghna Lkoll'. In a statement, the PN said that the banner was pulled down only a few minutes after it was erected. Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil said on Facebook that peo- ple were asking whether Caruana had built the block of apartments from their taxes. In response, the Labour Party said that Bar- tolo had reported the allegations against Caruana to three differ- ent institutions, including to the police. It said that this contrasted with Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil's attempt to hush up the works-for-votes scandal involv- ing the husband of former Gozo minister Giovanna Debono.