Minister of Finance Yair Lapid has initiated the first three projects in his rental housing program. The projects are for the construction of 729 rental projects through the new inter-ministerial committee as part of the plan to build 150,000 rental apartments in ten years.
A quarter of the apartments in the projects - 182 apartments - will be affordable housing for eligible residents. The municipalities in the cities where the projects will be built can increase the proportion of affordable housing apartments.
On Tuesday, the Israel Land Authority Council approved the allocation of land for the first three tenders under the rental housing program. Its approval was necessary because the land had already been included in its marketing plan.
The three projects are for 215 apartments in Herzliya on land owned by Kibbutz Galil Yam, 268 apartments in Haifa, and 246 apartments in Ramat Hasharon. The tenders will be published on January 15.
The eligibility criteria for affordable housing for the projects have been amended to raise the monthly household income threshold from NIS 15,000 to NIS 20,000. In addition, the projects do not include public housing for 2,500 families who have been on the Ministry of Housing and Construction waiting list for years, or for 10,000 families on the Ministry of Absorption waiting list, or for elderly tenants.
Social organizations are expected to launch a campaign against the exclusion of public housing from the projects and the raising of the income threshold, which will make the apartments less accessible to the poor.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 2, 2014
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