Netanyahu, Steinitz, Atias to set housing eligibility

An amendment to the planning and building bill states: A beneficiary for affordable housing is a person "who meets the criteria set by the ministers."

The distortions in setting criteria for affordable housing reached new heights on Tuesday in a Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment debate, during which it was proposed that the prime minister, finance minister, and housing minister should determine who is eligible for benefits. The proposal was made without any debate by the cabinet or the Knesset plenum.

The fifth amendment to the affordable housing chapter in the planning and building bill states that a beneficiary for affordable housing is a person "who meets the criteria set by the ministers on this matter." The definition of "ministers" includes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz, and Minister of Housing and Construction Ariel Atias.

The bill also gives Atias additional powers. He will have the power to set the rental terms and amount of rent in rental control housing projects "at a level that will not exceed 80% of the rent paid by a voluntary tenant to a voluntary landlord for the rent of a similar housing unit in the same area."

A "Globes" correspondent notes that, in contrast to the home sales market, no government agency has any authoritative data about rent in the free market. Information published in media about rental transactions comes from parties that want to publish it, and there is no way of verifying the credibility of this information.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 23, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018