Sources inform ''Globes'' that Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz today approved the affordable housing criteria of Minister of Housing and Construction Ariel Atias - criteria that do not include fulfilling earning capacity.
The criteria that Atias presented in January are mainly based on the number of years of marriage, with military service as an additional factor. The Israel Land Authority Council, which Atias chairs, approved the criteria, but Steinitz waited until today to follow suit. The criteria led to a public outcry because they give preferences to haredim (ultra-orthodox) - and Atias is a minister of haredi party Shas. Two petitions against the criteria are pending in the High Court of Justice.
Steinitz's approval of the criteria means that the Ministry of Housing and Construction can release tenders for land zoned for more than 3,000 homes at affordable prices through price for resident tenders. These tenders have been delayed for months, due to the absence of eligibility criteria for the apartments.
Meanwhile, there have been stormy discussions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planning and building law reform (the balcony reform), in which Israel Beiteinu has demanded the inclusion of the fulfilling of earning capacity criterion. Steinitz's decision means that he has sided with Shas.
The Ministry of Finance confirmed the report.
The budget cost of the affordable housing criteria is NIS 1.5 billion, to pay for discounts on land. This budget has not yet been approved.
"It is disappointing and regrettable that the Ministry of Finance prefers narrow coalition considerations over the national interest to support the middle class and solving the housing shortage, which brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets last summer," said Minister of Tourism Stas Misezhnikov of Israel Beiteinu. "The finance minister's panicky signing of the Israel Land Authority Council decision is an unworthy and insulting blow to Israel's productive population."
Today, the Ministry of Housing announced that it will market land for 2,500 apartments through price for resident tenders in Modiin, Rosh Ha'Ayin, and the Haifa suburbs of Tirat Hacarmel and Nesher.
"This is good news for young couples and discharged soldiers," said Atias. "For the first time, the Israel Land Authority is foregoing revenues from land sales, with discounts that amount to hundreds of thousands of shekels per apartment. We have no limit to the number of housing units. We intend to massively market land through this method in the coming months."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 13, 2012
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