What is the Specialised Housing Programme (SHP)
Fund?
Homes form a big part of wellness.
To achieve domestic, psychological, and financial stability, I believe that
society needs good housing which connects citizens through a holistic vision. It
is for this reason that the Specialised Housing Programme Fund was designed to
address the current social and cultural shifts that are brought about by the
challenges of the 21st century. A good way to engage with such
contemporary challenges of demographic shifts is to facilitate a positive sense
of wellbeing through the realms of the domestic and the built environment. This is because having a
stable home is one of the key elements to happiness.
In order, to address the
complexities of social and political life these programmes are responding to a wider
holistic and long-term vision which is seeking to implement good housing. What
is unique to these programmes is that they are seeking to promote a new approach to
housing provision namely through the combination of inclusive domestic design and specialised
service provision. At the core of the implementation process is the
collaboration with different stakeholders – non-governmental organisations and
the Chamber of Architects. For the first time in Malta, the state is organising
a Design Competition where NGOs will have the opportunity to present their
projects to interested architects. Based on such a ‘brief’, architects will
provide designs that will revolve around the needs of the user-group.
Through such inclusive designs, the allocated sites
for the SHP Fund will be
designed differently. They will include the social
dimension in its planning phase, alongside
the economic, environmental and governance dimensions from the start which is often a lower priority in
urban development. This will ensure that the needs of the specific
user-group are at the core of the design and its service provision. This
approach is innovative in the sense that design choice, no matter how
small-scale it is, will from the very beginning incorporate the social
dimension, as this can greatly influence individuals’ interactions with one
another, and facilitate a positive sense of wellbeing.
Dr
Rachael M Scicluna
Chairperson
Sustainable
Communities Project Fund
For any clarifications please send an email on sustainablecommunities.ha@ha.gov.mt
Please click here to
download the guidelines for applicants.
Please click here to download the 'Sustainable Communities, Housing for Tomorrow'
booklet.