Calcalist, Amitay Gazit, 17.03.2021
The issue of housing prices, the one that ignited the big social protest of 2011 and was at the heart of the campaigns of most parties 6 years ago, has completely disappeared from the public discourse before the current election. Is the reason for falling housing prices? vice versa.
According to the housing price index published last Tuesday, housing prices rose by 4.3% this year in prices throughout the country and by 5.2% in the desired Tel Aviv area. And if that's not enough, it was reported this week that in 2020 the number of building permits fell by 7.8% - which could exacerbate the supply problem and lead to a further rise in prices.
The answers of the parties
Despite this, the political players prefer to wrap themselves in silence and not make statements to which they have become accustomed to their ability to cool the real estate market. The obvious conclusion is that politicians have realized that the task of lowering housing prices is too complex and uncertain. And examine what their positions are and what solutions they offer to the various fundamental problems in the field.
The Likud evades, Litzman attacks
The party that has been in power for the past 12 years and claims to hold it for at least another four years has no platform at all in the housing sector. Moreover, the Likud stood out in its response to Calcalist's request and chose not to answer the question about its plans in the field. Naor Yahya, a Likud spokesman, said that the party "does not participate in the questionnaires." The economic plan presented by Netanyahu this week also lacked reference to housing prices, despite saying more than twice as much during his cumulative years in office.
The only party that says out loud that it is interested in the housing portfolio is Torah Judaism. Calcalist has learned that if Netanyahu forms the next government, Torah Judaism intends to continue to hold the housing portfolio. In such a scenario, the senior positions currently held by sailing chiefs will be maintained - Moshe Gafni will return to the position of chairman of the Finance Committee, Litzman will return to his office in the Ministry of Housing and it can be estimated that the ministry's top officials will not change. In Torah Judaism, they also prepared a plan, which is revealed here for the first time, which Litzman formulated on the basis of an analysis of himself and his people after 10 months as Minister of Housing.
One of the interesting sections of the plan is a formula according to which 2% of the revenues of the Israel Land Authority, approximately NIS 200 to 240 million per year, will be allocated for the promotion of urban renewal projects under umbrella agreements with local authorities. This formula was born with the aim of resolving a long-standing dispute between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and the Urban Renewal Authority over the amount of money accumulated in the Urban Renewal Fund that the government was supposed to establish in 2014.
Netanyahu. 12 years in power and there is no platform for housing Photo: Kobi Gideon / GPO
The budget for urban renewal in the plan is just one of several items that are based on a change in the way Litzman seeks to use the revenues of the Israel Land Authority. The most dramatic step of all is a change in the law that will allow the Israel Land Authority (RMI) to spend more in a given year than it puts in. NIS 588 billion and Schwein raises every year following plans she promotes. The manner in which RMI funds are used is a pillow for disputes between the Ministry of Finance, which seeks to use these funds specifically for the benefit of the metro project, and the Ministry of Construction, which seeks to advance other purposes as detailed here.
Another tier of Litzman's plan, which is also related to the use of RMI revenues, is the intention to allocate budgets to finance the infrastructure needed for residential construction - mainly sewage treatment plants, roads and interchanges. Marmi. The establishment of these infrastructures will enable the marketing of land for the construction of about 100,000 apartments. Another chapter in Litzman's plan seeks to add another 2,000 apartments to the public housing pool, by combining a demand for the construction of such apartments and handing them over to the state in Rami tenders. On the other hand, Litzman wants to take a dramatic step that is expected to provoke protest, and not renew the temporary order that allows tenants of public housing to purchase their apartment at a discount.
Yaakov Litzman. The struggle with the treasury is already inside Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Another reform that Litzman seeks to implement in the field of urban renewal is in the mechanism of allocating supplementary land to construction clearance projects. Today, in projects where the land area is too small and does not allow the developer to maintain profitability, RMI can allocate another land to the same developer without a tender and a discount, on which he can build additional apartments. The revolutionary alternative offered by Litzman is the marketing of the same complementary land in a tender at the highest possible price. Any construction company will be able to compete in this tender.
Meretz: That the billionaires will finance public housing
Most parties agree on burning issues, including public housing, assistance in purchasing housing and increasing the stock of apartments, but the enforcement mechanisms they offer are different.
The stock of apartments in public housing continues to shrink . Although 2,774 new apartments were purchased from 2016 until today, almost 3,000 apartments have been deducted from inventory since 2018. And today there are 4,225 eligible people waiting for an apartment. The various parties understand the need for change. Right-wing and New Hope parties prefer to reduce government involvement, and replace state-run housing clusters with rent assistance. In a new hope, they promise to rent apartments for the population entitled to public housing, when the state will guarantee these rents. In contrast, in the Left Bloc - Labor offers a five-year plan to increase the supply of public housing, with the scope of construction not less than the recommendations of the Al-Aluf Committee to Fight Poverty, which states that 5% of all housing units in the next 15 years, 700-100 apartments per year, will be allocated to public housing.
Meretz is interested in promoting a national plan that will map the needs for public housing and set a gradual goal of building inventory over the next few years. The budgetary source on which Meretz builds is the state budget, and is subject to the rest of Meretz's economic plan, which includes an inheritance tax and a billionaires tax. The joint list is interested in establishing a government company that will work to increase the stock of public housing, with an emphasis on Arab localities that have been discriminated against so far.
Everyone agrees that more housing is needed for rent
There is a cross-party agreement on one issue - increasing the stock of apartments for long-term rent, with most even promising that at least some of the apartments will be rented at a regulated price. Bish Atid returned to the promises made by Yair Lapid when he served as Minister of Finance in 2014, which include the construction of about 150,000 apartments for long-term rent in the next decade, a quarter of them at a regulated price. Although these promises did not materialize at the time, the conditions are now ripe for it. In a new hope, they promise to build about 75,000 apartments for rent within 10 years, and are even interested in giving incentives to develop a rental market and increase the stock of student dormitories. The joint list wants the public housing companies to also deal with rental housing, with government funding and under the supervision of the tenants.
There is also agreement on increasing the supply of housing. The parties understand that this is necessary to prevent a spike in prices and to address population growth, but they have different ideas for tackling barriers such as infrastructure or building public buildings. Most of the parties answered that they are in favor of plans to assist in purchasing an apartment in the spirit of the "price per occupant". Bish Atid promised that they would not cancel moves that have already been launched under such programs, including subsidizing apartments for young couples costing up to NIS 1.5 million.
In a new hope, they are interested in promoting a national plan for the purchase of a first apartment, at work they want to increase the supply of affordable housing in the purchase, in March they are interested in marketing state land in tenders where the competition is for apartment price. Up to a ceiling of two million shekels.
Commonly demand the repeal of the Kaminitz Law
The only party that does not offer a solution to the housing industry in the Arab sector is the right. Bish Atid wants to strengthen the planning departments in Arab localities. In new hope and work, emphasis is placed on regulating outline plans, which make it easier to enforce against illegal construction offenses. Meretz is interested in promoting the establishment of industrial zones in Arab localities and redistributing property from property taxes between nearby Arab and Jewish authorities. And the joint list is interested in emphasizing the recognition of "unrecognized" localities in the Negev and the Galilee, where about 150,000 citizens live, and allocating land to public buildings and young couples. They also want to include affordable housing in previously expropriated areas and return them to the Arab local authorities, immediately stop the demolition of houses in Arab localities, and immediately repeal the Kaminitz Law.