In August 2011, at the height of the social protest, the government established the National Housing Committees with great fanfare, and with a mandate to quickly bring to market tens of thousands of new apartments. Last week, the Ministry of Interior announced that the committees approved projects with 17,400 housing units during the first quarter of 2012.
However, an investigation by "Globes" has found that although the National Housing Committees are meeting reasonably regularly, except in the Tel Aviv District, where only one residential project is under consideration, they are actually devoting much of their time to projects of high-end private houses and large apartments. This is not what the masses who went out on to the streets last summer intended.
Projects of private houses are understandable for rural areas and Arab communities, but, surprisingly, they frequently crop up in urban projects. An example is the Afula 65 Bypass project recently published by the Northern District National Housing Committee for the construction of 1,100 housing units, of which more than 10% - 122 units - are 270-sq.m. private houses, and the apartments are 160 sq.m. each - too big and expensive for young couples and poor families to afford.
A petition against the plan filed by the Affordable Housing Coalition, contends that the plan ignores key clauses in the National Housing Committee Law.
National Housing Committees have also approved a plan for 134 private houses in the Negev Bedouin town of Rahat, a plan for 416 private houses in the Arab town of Faradis, a plan for 37 private houses as part of a 810-unit plan for Atlit and Kibbutz Ein Hacarmel.
The Southern District National Housing Committee rezoned two plans in Beersheva, Neve Menachem Part 1 and Part 2, reducing the number of housing units in Part 1 from 2,982 apartments to 632 private houses, and reducing the number of housing units in Part 2 from 1,585 apartments to 646 private houses.
In the Israel Land Authority's North Kiryat Gat project for 7,000 apartments, plans for 4,750 housing units, including 600 private houses, have been submitted to the National Housing Committee. While not the majority of the housing units, the private houses are a substantial proportion of the plan, although it also includes 850 small apartments for affordable housing.
In May, the National Housing Committee approved a plan in the Galilee Druze town of Yarka for 232 two-family houses for discharged soldiers and residents with no land of their own. The plan originally called for three housing units per dunam (nine housing units per acre), but the committee increased the density to four housing units per dunam (twelve housing units per acre).
Affordable Housing Coalition member architect Sari Kronish told "Globes", "The public mandate of the National Housing Committees is to provide a response to local land shortages. We are definitely seeing, at least in the plans to which we have access, that the National Housing Committees are being exploited, without examining the different needs of each location. There may be justification for plans for private houses in towns such as Afula and Beersheva, and in urban planning there are cities in the world with a mechanism for private houses and low density housing alongside high density housing, but this balance has to be made in a measured planning process, not a hasty one like the fast track National Housing Committees as a directive.
"In Afula, for example, more high density apartments in good shape are needed, because while there is high density construction, it is crumbling. The National Housing Committees' mandate is to provide affordable housing that meets standards, is inexpensive, and complete, not just homes for people with means."
The Ministry of Housing said in response, "The ministry attaches great importance to the approval of small apartments and rental apartments, the district commissions and National Housing Committees were asked that 20% of all housing units in residential plans under discussion be designated for small apartments and rental apartments." It added, however, "The planning commissions have discretion to decide the mix of housing units, and they seek to approve small units, rental apartments, and affordable housing, to the extent possible in accordance with the characteristics of a plan, region, population, and local authority."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 29, 2012
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