Residents in one of Malta’s most affluent neighbourhoods oppose a project led by Valletta’s Soup Kitchen Foundation’s Fr Marcellino Micallef to turn a townhouse in George Borg Olivier Street, Sliema, into a residential institution sheltering young homeless people.
The application to open the shelter, which would host up to 15, was filed in August and has already elicited tens of objections at the Planning Authority.
A meeting for residents was held last week between Sliema residents and Fr Marcellino, but residents could not be swayed, reiterating to The Shift that they do not want any sort of social project in their street.
“We are not against any social project intended to help disadvantaged people, but we don’t want it in our street,” one of the objecting neighbours told The Shift.
Another complained: “From so many locations around the country, why did they choose one of the ‘best’ streets in Sliema?”
A one-bedroom apartment on George Borg Oliver Street can start at some €300,000, making it one of the country’s most expensive and exclusive addresses.
Another resident opposing the plans told The Shift they believe it is some kind of scam designed by a businessman who wants to use the social dimension as a smokescreen to allow them to reach other business objectives, such as turning it into a guesthouse in future.
Neighbours also claimed that the same businessman, who they named as Nigel Scerri, originally bought the townhouse to turn it into a hotel but was refused by the Planning Authority.
Research by The Shift through the Planning Authority’s web server found that no planning permits to turn the house into a hotel or a guest house were ever submitted, let alone decided.
‘This is no soup kitchen’ – Foundation
Questioned by The Shift over this initiative, a spokesman for the Soup Kitchen Foundation explained that the project does not involve opening a soup kitchen like the one in Valletta, as is being claimed.
Fr Marcellino Micallef at his Soup Kitchen in Valletta.
“Our project is a residential one where we will be offering some 15 youths who were abandoned by their parents and put into an orphanage a temporary shelter until they can stand on their own two feet without any more help,” the spokesman said.
“What we have applied for is to adjust the townhouse into a residential place for these unfortunate children,” he said.
“Currently, those in orphanages end up practically homeless when they reach 16 years of age, as that is until when they are taken care of by the existing institutions. Through this new residence, we will be offering a helping hand and solving part of that problem,” the spokesman added.
“We cannot really understand what the problem is with having some 15 youngsters living in the Sliema community. These are not criminals but ‘children’ who need help. What’s wrong in all this?” the Foundation representative asked.
The spokesman dismissed allegations that a businessman was involved and may be using the Foundation for his own business intentions.
“These are all lies, and we have already explained the situation to the objectors. However, it seems they don’t want to listen,” he said.
Nigel Scerri, the owner of the townhouse and who will be giving its use to the foundation for the next 15 years, free of change, is a member of the Foundation’s administration and is doing this as “an act for charity”, the Foundation’s spokesperson said.
Insisting that there is already a hotel on the same road and many other businesses, the spokesman said that Scerri did not need the Foundation to turn his townhouse into another business.
Scerri is the CEO of a financial services firm based in Msida and, according to the Foundation, has bought this townhouse to help the Soup Kitchen Foundation.
The Planning Authority is still assessing the application.
My question to the foundation spokesman is this
What will happen after the 15 years free of charge?
Will the foundation be able to fork out money to continue the operation?
If not who can guarantee that what is being said by the residents will not actually happen… meaning turning the site into a hostel?
@ Fr Marcelino
Hadd ma jtik xejn ta’ xejn
Min itik bajda llum ghada jigi ghad dundjan. Ejja ma nitnejjkux bil poplu !
This is evidently a smokescreen. Nigel Scerri is loaning the property to the Soup Kitchen foundation. What will prevent Nigel Scerri from calling in the “loan” as soon as the the permit is issued and opening a guest house combined with the rest of the neighbouring properties that “he” owns?
That is the trend Fr. Marcellino.
Oppose everything everywhere.
So if I can make a suggestion, how about renting out the place to people who are acceptable to the residents of the neighborhood, rent being set at high commercial rates, then donating the proceeds, after tax and the usual expenses, to the good Father so he can open his desired home for orphans in a more acceptable area.
That would please all concerned and be a most charitable act too.
Why should it be unacceptable for decent young people to reside in Borg Olivier street and acceptable in others? There is no rationality about this issue just perceptions and money. Keep the course fr Marcellino and if you manage to get a property for a similar project in my street, you are welcome.
Since when do residents have a veto on who lives in an area? They own a house not the neighborhood !!
Is this Nigel Scerri not the same person who, apart from the house in question, also bought the two houses up the road ex von brockdorf and ex portelli. We can see his workers going from one property to another and taking out black waste bags with carpets, etc. Something suspicious is going on. I wonder where all his millions came from. FIAU please note.
If Fr Marcellino genuinely wants accomodation he should ask for space available in the various instutions such as vincenzo bugeja, cini, and others that are practically empty. Hosting 16 younsters in this one house is like putting them in a can of sardines.
Suspicious, why not allow your son or daughter to live for one day in an institute and see how they like it. If they do like it then Fr Marcellino may wish to rethink.
The idea to change the present residence “into a residential institution sheltering young homeless people” is excellent. However, one should weigh whether this is the ideal place for abandoned youth when their social class is diametrically opposite to theirs. Another factor is the ageing population there.
Stigma is a bastard and it sticks with one’s conscience for many, many years. I know because I lived in the “Lazy Corner” in Sliema. And, it takes many, many years to overcome this stigma. So, if these youths had to be housed there, they’d feel this stigma for sure even though they might not admit it.
Then there is another point; there is that lurking doubt that the owner might have in mind after the 15 years expire. If Nigel Scerri is so generous, let him find you another place where these youth can mix with others and enjoy their new adult life.
This Fr Marcellino, not without controversy in church circles, should request his colleagues at Sacro Cuor, Sliema, just 200 m away, to give him the readily available space there to host hundreds of children not 15. That would be true charity, not that by some unknown speculator possibly a shield for others – such a suspicious transaction.
Conspiracy theories get you nowhere
What a bunch of greedy snobs. Who do you think you are ? We lived in Dingli Street and as a family we definitely would not have minded. Even where i live now, i wouldn’t mind sharing my street with such an honorable cause.. Xarukaza! Flus biss !
U mela, nies suppervi u arroganti, minghalijom xi klassi superjuri
Well done Nigel. A true gentleman.
Iss, arem. We are too special to have this in our street. Put in in lesser people’s street.
I am not against feeding the hungry and housing the homeless; anywhere, wherever. But why on earth did they sell Porziuncola Retreat House where they could have given many more youngsters a comfortable home and made St.Francis a far happier saint in heaven? But I suppose, €30 million can put anyone in a dilemma and make you lose your way. With so much money why would they then⁷ need a benefactor to fulfill their mission? Or is it the other way round? Maybe! These rich Friars are definitely proving to cart controversy. They did it at Madliena and now they are doing it again in Sliema! Where next, I wonder!
thats what you call Christian Spirit.
they should be ashamed
What a great act of kindness !, I don’t get why people are putting negative comments, what do you want then? people wasting their money on material things instead of charity?
Maltese people tend to make up excuses just to make people look bad, unbelievable !
I think it’s best if we ask ourselves why all this is happening?? Is it because the residents who live in the area think that they are far better then the rest of us!!!! Wake up people!!! We are all going down the same hole!!! How is it that nowadays if someone is helping people who are at a disadvantage, that person is doing it for himself? For his own aim! Have you noticed that helping others might be a way of helping yourself morally and not financially. Unfortunately hate comments are the way forward nowadays, it is the easiest isn’t it? This is why humanity is turning into materialism. People are more concerned with what they have rather than who they want to be.
Qatta snobs