Migrants end up homeless as centres overflow
Migrants evicted from open centres, and unable to afford housing, have been forced to sleep at the gates of Valletta.
Asylum seekers are usually allowed accommodation at the open centres for up to a year. in line with a service agreement with the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers (AWAS).
During that period, they are meant to secure an independent means of living and find their own place to stay.
Their stay at the centres, of which there are two in Ħal Far and one in Marsa, is sometimes extended if they have not yet managed to settle down in the community.
However, with the number of migrant arrivals on the increase, space at the centres is running out, Neil Falzon from the human rights NGO Aditus told Times of Malta.
Residents at open centres must make way for asylum seekers moved there from detention. The process, in turn, makes space for new arrivals in detention centres.
The luckier of the evicted migrants have managed to sleep and eat at friends’ places. However, over the past few days, several have been spotted in Valletta, carrying all their belongings in a single bag.
Some were criticised on social media for sleeping in the street but other social media users have...