The housing cabinet today approved the three proposals on the agenda. A Ministry of Construction and Housing proposal for a new urban renewal model was approved unanimously. Minister of Environmental Protection Amir Peretz was the only minister to oppose two other proposals: the activity of the new government rental housing company, and the establishment of a new super committee to expedite plans.
The housing cabinet approved a proposal by Minister of the Interior Gideon Sa'ar that the committee for planning preferential housing would will be a temporary, not a permanent, committee as originally proposed. The committee, which will be established by a directive, will function for four years, and can be extended for two years, subject to a new cabinet discussion and review of the advantages of the extension.
The housing cabinet rejected proposals by the Ministry of Environmental Protection to restrict the authority of the new super committee. For example, a proposal that any plan that the government rental housing committee locates in open spaces at the edges of cities have an alternative plan for urban renewal in the same city, was rejected.
After the housing cabinet meeting, Minister of Finance Yair Lapid told a meeting of Yesh Atid MKs, "I am coming from an important meeting of the housing cabinet, at which we established a government housing company and approved a series of measures to quickly initiate building plans in Israel. Some people will call these measures aggressive and destructive; I accept the charge, but these are the same people who demanded structural reforms to create major changes. Although the measures approved are aggressive, but their aggressiveness fits the seriousness of the crisis."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 18, 2013
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