Tense exchanges in Parliament over 15-year residency in new housing allocation rules

The new Housing Allocation Rules, which outline the need for 15 years of local residency as part of eligibility requirements, were debated in Parliament on Tuesday, with the Opposition questioning whether the rules would “safeguard the identity of Gibraltar”.

The Minister for Housing Pat Orfila announced new rules earlier this year which increased the mandatory residence period for government housing eligibility from 10 to 15 years.

This change, she told Parliament on Tuesday, will guarantee that the priority for the housing stock remains for long-term residents and for those with established ties to Gibraltar.

Ms Orfila was questioned by GSD MP Damon Bossino for almost an hour on the Housing Allocation Scheme Rules 2026 in at times barbed exchanges across the floor.

“Madam Speaker, we decided to move on from the 10-year to 15, because it means that you would have to be in Gibraltar for a longer period of time before you can get onto the housing waiting list, and we think that that then safeguards the housing stock that we have for people who genuinely want to be in Gibraltar or who are Gibraltarians,” she said.

Mr Bossino pressed the minister on the rules, questioning whether the criteria was different for Gibraltarians not born in Gibraltar, to which Ms Orfila responded that said there is no different criteria and the same rules apply for Gibraltarians born in Gibraltar and abroad.

“A 15-year requirement now applies to everyone as proof of residence in Gibraltar and 12 consecutive months before they are able to go onto the housing waiting list,” she said.

“It also has a safeguarding aspect that a Gibraltarian that has spent long periods away from Gibraltar cannot simply seek government housing on day one of their return.”

Ms Orfila said this requirement has been introduced to try to safeguard the Gibraltarian who has been here all their life.

She explained to be eligible someone has to reside in Gibraltar for 15 years.

However, if a person leaves Gibraltar and lives abroad for some time they need to return to Gibraltar and live for a continuous 12 months before they are eligible, even if they had previously resided locally for 15 years.

“The point is that you have to do your 15 years,” she said.

“If you are abroad, if you are away from Gibraltar, you were born away from Gibraltar but you are Gibraltarian, your mother's Gibraltarian but you have never been in Gibraltar before, then we expect you, if you want to come back to Gibraltar and claim that you want housing, government housing, then you would be required to stay here for 15 years.”

“You have to do 12 months, continuous, here in Gibraltar before you can go on to the housing waiting list.”

“This, at the same time, prevents anybody who's been living abroad to come to Gibraltar and go on the waiting list on day one, where there have been people here all their lives waiting for government housing. This is the reason why.”

Mr Bossino called this an “injustice” and said the minister may consider amending this rule.

Ms Orfila replied that the same rule applies to Gibraltarians born in Gibraltar who must complete 15 years of residency including 12 months continuous residency prior to applying.

Mr Bossino also asked why under the rules is property ownership resulting in disqualification limited to property situated in Gibraltar.

“Property ownership in Gibraltar is readily identifiable through records and it provides a clear and verifiable indicator of whether an applicant has access to accommodation within the jurisdiction,” Ms Orfila said.

“By contrast, extending the rule to property held abroad would raise practical and evidential difficulties, giving the wide range of legal systems and verification mechanisms involved.”

“Even if we could identify property owners outside our jurisdiction, under the present scheme, it is limited only to property within Gibraltar.”

Mr Bossino questioned if someone could have a house in Spain and be beneficiaries of social housing, stressing that there should be an extra layer of administrative burden to establish this.

“Can it be done? I suppose it could be done,” Ms Orfila said.

“It would be very lengthy and a very complex and complicated exercise which may take years.”

“However, should the honourable gentleman ever find himself in my chair as Minister for Housing, then he may want to look and see who has property outside of Gibraltar and strike them off from the housing waiting list, or dare I say, ask for the house back.”

“But like I said, Madam Speaker, if he's ever in this chair, then he can do that.”

“I'm sure he will. He also wants to means test. Be my guest.”

Mr Bossino replied that this was a defeatist attitude, to which Ms Orfila said it was the “same defeatist attitude that the GSD had for 16 years”.

He questioned why there is requirement specifying for someone sixteen years old or over to be listed as the ‘head of family’ in the new rules, which Ms Orfila clarified that this change enables a young person to be able to take over as head of a household because of unfortunate circumstance.

“Recommended obviously in very exceptional circumstances,” she said.

“This is stressed upon them because their parents may have passed away or are lacking in mental capacity to make judgement.”

She added that a person needs to be listed as the head of the household in order to be the main tenant.

Mr Bossino also echoed the position of Action for Housing that there should be clear criteria for medical and social cases.

Ms Orfila said the categorisation for social medical cases is decided by the Housing Application Committee composed of professionals with expertise within medical and social backgrounds.

She added that each case is classified by its own merits and urgency was based on the natural and ordinary meaning of the words social and medical, adding any allocation is again dependent on suitable housing stock, availability and occupational therapy recommendations.

Mr Bossino put it to the minister that there ought to be a criteria against which potential applicants can test whether the Housing Allocation Committee has decided an issue correctly or incorrectly, which could then lead to an appeal.

Ms Ofila said the Government is doing “exactly the same” as the Opposition did when in government.

Chief Minister Fabian Picardo rose to answer the question adding that it was up to professionals, not politicians, to determine whether someone should be medically categorised.

“Instead of setting out a criteria which people can then try to shoehorn themselves into,” he said.

INCLEMENT WEATHER

Ms Orfila detailed that Housing Works Agency responded to 579 reports from January 27 to February 18, 2026, in the three and a half weeks during the period of inclement weather.

She said there were 311 reports of rainwater infiltration through facade, 38 through the roof, 213 through windows, and the Housing Works Agency also received reports that 17 lifts had broken down due to the rainwater infiltration.

“The Housing Works Agency also received various reports of rainwater ingress through the mid harbour's podium,” Ms Orfila said.

“Numbers are still increasing due to the weather infiltration that we had and reports are still being received. The cost for all the above is not known yet due to the high number of reports received.”