Walter Finch
GIBRALTAR’S Chief Minister has been accused of intervening in government housing allocations to help someone ‘close’ to him jump the queue,
The allegation, from pressure group Action for Housing (AFH), directly undermines Fabian Picardo’s claim that he only acts in urgent cases involving vulnerable people.
In a press release, AFH claimed Picardo intervened in September 2021 to allow a former homeowner to secure a government flat within weeks rather than the years normally required.
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Henry Pinna, spokesman for Action for Housing, told the Olive Press that the case involved ‘someone close’ to the Chief Minister who was given priority despite not being in an urgent or vulnerable situation as Picardo has claimed.
The case involved a matrimonial breakdown where the individual ‘found himself or herself without a roof over their head.’
However, unlike genuine emergency cases, this person was fast-tracked through a process that normally takes years.
“This person had been a property owner, and property owners who sell their homes have to go through a whole process,” Pinna explained.
“We’re talking about a long time before a previous home owner can get a flat. In this case, it happened in weeks.”
Former homeowners must first prove they didn’t make substantial profit from their property sale before even becoming eligible for the housing waiting list, which currently has around 800 people across different categories.
When pressed about whether this represented a pattern of behaviour, Pinna said: “This was a one-off, but enough for us to think that nepotism has been done.
“If this case happened the way it did happen, what guarantee do we have that it hasn’t happened before?”
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The group’s allegations directly contradict Picardo’s public statements that he only intervenes in ‘clear-cut cases of serious risk and abuse’ involving vulnerable individuals such as victims of domestic violence and child neglect.
The government had explicitly stated in each case needed swift intervention to ‘ensure safety and wellbeing’.
But AFH said ‘this reasoning is not entirely true.’
“We have many cases on our list which are extremely urgent; people in the Social A+ and the Medical A+ categories who have waited for years and continue to languish, yet the CM has not intervened for them.”
And even when Picardo did intervene with good intentions, AFH maintains that such political interventions are fundamentally wrong.
“Chief Ministers, not only this one, but any other, should not get involved in the allocation of housing,” Pinna said.
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“You have a housing department, you have an administration, you have a minister for housing, you have a Housing Allocation Committee – the Chief Minister should not get involved because it opens the door to favouritism, nepotism.”
The recent Public Auditor’s report revealed that 25 government housing allocations were granted to people not first on the waiting list, with seven of those involving direct intervention by the Chief Minister.
Pinna drew a stark analogy to illustrate why such interventions are inappropriate: “Say that I need an urgent operation and the doctors say you haven’t gone through the proper procedure.
“And then I go to the Chief Minister and he overrules or takes the decision for me to have an operation – would that be correct?
He went on to insist that ‘Chief Ministers should not get involved in the allocation of government housing.’
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“The Housing Department’s administration and Housing Allocation Committee are responsible for housing allocation. These rules are set to remain fair for everyone.”
The government robustly defended Picardo’s actions in a statement to the Olive Press, stating that he acted within legal discretion that ‘every Chief Minister has exercised since 1969.’
Officials insist they cannot share confidential information about cases with ‘an unelected pressure group’ but maintain all interventions were for vulnerable individuals requiring immediate action.
“These are not decisions taken lightly, and certainly not for political convenience,” a government spokesperson said.
“Hundreds of people seek meetings with the Chief Minister on housing matters every year, and they know first-hand that action is only taken in the most extreme and urgent cases.”
Action for Housing, which has operated since 1981 and dealt with governments of all political stripes, says it remains politically neutral and receives no funding from any party.
The controversy adds to broader concerns raised in a recent audit about the government’s allocation of public resources, with £11 million being doled out to various people in ‘ex gratia’ payments.
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