Despite the fierce public outcry against the new housing criteria, Minister of Housing and Construction Ariel Atias succeeded in getting the Israel Land Authority Council, which he controls, to approve the criteria - without earnings capacity.
The Israel Land Authority Council meeting was closed to the media and the public. The participants were council chairman Atias, and the representatives from the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Jewish National Fund.
Atias's proposal, unveiled last week, included the following criteria for affordable housing in tenant priced housing tenders: 20% of apartments in each tender will be allotted to individuals over the age of 35 or childless couples; 35% of apartments will be allotted to families with one or two children; and 45% of apartments will be allotted to families with three or more children.
The criteria for rental apartments, which are price controlled for ten years, are the same as in tenant priced housing tenders with the additional criterion - an eligible person must earn up to double the average national salary.
Atias proposes giving priority to discharged soldiers in 50% of the tenders, based on the following criteria: 15 points for discharged soldiers, five points for men who service in the IDF reserves, and 80 points for years of marriage. However, this morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz raised the points for discharged soldiers and reservists from 20 points to 30 points, and cut the years of marriage criterion from eight years to seven years.
Under the new criteria, discharged soldiers will receive 15 points, reservists will receive five points, and women who served in the IDF or National Service will receive ten points. The years of marriage criterion will total 70 points.
However, Netanyahu did not insist on including the earnings criterion - a criterion for all other social services in Israel. Likud coalition partner Israel Beiteinu is demanding the inclusion of a 125% earnings criterion per couple (or eligibility for unemployment insurance) for affordable housing eligibility. The Trajtenberg Committee also recommended this criterion for affordable housing eligibility.
The Israel Land Authority will immediately publish tenders for housing in Modiin, Yavne, Rosh Ha'Ayin, Kfar Saba, Rishon LeZion, Beersheva, and Jerusalem.
The Israel Land Authority Council decided to set up a subcommittee to monitor affordable housing projects. Every six months, the Israel Land Authority will show the committee the work plan for marketing affordable housing projects.
The deal between Atias, Netanyahu, and Steinitz paved the way for Israel Land Authority Council's approval of Atias's proposal today. Although any council decision has budgetary consequences requiring the signature of the finance minister, sources in Steinitz's entourage told "Globes" that he will probably sign the decision.
However, petitions against the decision to the High Court of Justice could delay the decision's implementation, and several organizations are preparing them. Student organizations demonstrated outside the Israel Land Authority offices during the meeting, under the slogan "Do not saddle the Trajtenberg Committee recommendations on the backs of the young and the workers".
The NGO Awakening said, "It is sad that the Israeli government is unwilling to act honestly for Israel's working people who pay taxes and bear the country's economic burden, but cannot make ends meet. Excluding the earnings capacity criterion crosses every red line, and without this condition, this is nothing but trickery. Every attempt to increase the weight of the military service criterion or reduce the weight of the length of marriage criterion was nothing more than throwing sand in the eyes of the public, since they evade the main issue and do not necessarily help working people."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 30, 2012
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