Arena Angel, chairwoman of the Association of Architects (Photo: Public Relations)
During a conference held this morning (Tuesday) on the subject of self-licensing and conversion of commercial space to residential, by the Boni Ha'aretz Contractors' Association, the Foundation for the Encouragement and Development of the Construction Industry, and the Architects' Association - managers of government offices and architects announced that they are officially joining the contractors' effort to promote self-construction licensing, which will cut by two and a half years the Waiting for an apartment.
"In recent years, a lot of money has passed through various intermediaries so that projects can be implemented, and on the other hand, with self-licensing, we the architects will approve projects based on professional parameters and an independent examination and guarantee that construction in Israel will be better for the sake of future generations,"
Erna Angel said this morning.
Chairwoman of the Association of Architects
, and ended on a positive note, when she said that "the neglect and difficulties over the years have created a situation that will not disappear in an instant, but from the wind blowing here today we can be a little more optimistic."
We will remind you that the law allowing self-licensing went into effect three months ago, and was initially met with harsh reactions from architects and city planners.
The decision of the Association of Architects to issue a call to adopt the procedure that dramatically shortens the waiting time for an apartment - is expected to greatly promote its use.
Along with this, there is still strong opposition from mayors to allow self-licensing and today the law allows them to refuse.
Self-licensing is expected to dramatically shorten the time it takes to issue a building permit
The Self-Licensing Law was passed as part of the latest Arrangements Law and entered into force at the end of last October, under which architects authorized by the state will be able to replace the licensing authority, starting with the process of issuing the building permit and change permits up to a certificate of completion, for a building that is primarily residential.
The data from the Contractors Association, and similar data from entities in the field, state that the procedure in question may dramatically shorten the time it takes to issue a building permit from an average of three years to about six months, lead to the rapid issuance of permits and increase the supply of apartments on the market.
Angel added on the subject: "The self-licensing is a very important milestone. The unreasonable amount of time required to issue building permits does not allow the country to meet the challenges it faces. In a few years we will have to build another country and there is no sense that a stock of housing units will get stuck in the bureaucratic pipeline while there are people Professionals who can promote projects and lead to an increase in supply.
Furthermore, Angel says, "We, the architects, are aware of our responsibility and I can assure you that it will be in the mind of every architect when they come to approve the execution of a project. We all suffer from the high cost of real estate, we all have children and grandchildren whose ability to purchase and rent an apartment goes and decreases, so I hope that we will be able to move Israel in the opposite direction and completely change the most important and talked about issue in Israel in the last decade, which is housing prices."
Ruth Schwartz, VP of Licensing and Construction Regulation, Director of Planning (Photo: Public Relations)
Ruth Schwartz, VP of Regulation in Licensing and Construction, Director of Planning
said at the conference: "We at the Planning Director are committed to the issue of self-licensing, we have committed ourselves to it and in record time since the Law on Arrangements was passed, we have received budgets from the Ministry of Finance and are sitting on the criteria to bring local authorities into it.
We go between mayors, convince, and try to get it in as much as possible.
This conference today is important in order to assimilate this issue in the field as well and to start motivating it even more."
"This is the order of the hour"
Regarding the local government's opposition to the automatic inclusion of the possibility of self-licensing in all construction plans,
the president of the Haaretz Builders Contractors Association, Raul Sargo, said:
"One of the directions for solving the housing crisis is the self-licensing that passed thanks to our great effort. The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, should create a situation in which The self-licensing is a must, to give tools to maintain it, and we have seen that the government knows how to oblige the local government when it wants to. To date, over 80 architects have registered for the self-licensing, and this is unequivocally a game changer. The self-licensing saves a lot of money and time so instead To issue a permit in three years, we will issue it in six months. Transferring the powers to the architects will make the whole process higher quality and faster and is the order of the hour."
The president of the Boni Ha'aretz Contractors Association, Raul Sargo (Photo: Lidor Golberg)
The CEO of the Boni Ha'aretz Contractors Association, Amnon Merhav
, who is about to take up his position as CEO of the Ministry of Economy in the coming days, said: "One of my most difficult tasks as CEO of the Jerusalem Municipality, in which we have not been very successful as a municipality, is the easing of licensing and bureaucracy.
Every time they asked me as CEO for ten standards that would allow the recruitment of new plan inspectors, they didn't know how much time it would actually shorten the process. When I got to the association and they told me about the self-licensing program, I realized that this was the only chance for a quick promotion of building permits."
"The local government is still afraid of change, and is in tension about the reform. We will help the mayors to cross the road, because they do not understand that this is an opportunity and not a problem. It is possible to get out of the whole permit traffic jam, but only in this way, because all the talk of adding standards and money to them will not bring the solution. It was difficult, but this is the time to speed up and move on."
Amnon Merhav, Director General of the incoming Ministry of Economy (Photo: Public Relations)
Haim Feiglin, vice president of the Association of Contractors Building the Ha'aretz, said: "I have been involved in promoting these reforms for 5 years, it has been passed from one finance minister to another and due to the corona virus it has finally been approved. We are at the beginning of a new era if we are wise enough to take it together, the contractors and the architects. The whole country is painted in the purple and gray colors of planning, just to block the residence just because it's more convenient and economical and that needs to change."
"The government relies on the same professional bureaucracy that is dedicated, but fails time and time again"
Also, as mentioned, the conference dealt with the topic of converting employment areas into residences.
According to the planning director's data presented at the conference, the scope of the planned employment areas is estimated at approximately 180 million square meters.
According to Sargo on the subject: "This significant excess supply may prevent effective use of the land for the purpose of increasing the supply of apartments.
The new reform talks about converting planned employment areas into residential apartments, which will add thousands of housing units to the housing market in the short term and enable housing solutions."
Sargo also referred to the effect of the law on the state of the housing market:
"I hope the government will listen to us. The officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing in the government, who are good people, really have no idea how things work on the ground. Demands as presented by the outgoing government will not advance the construction and infrastructure industry. Unfortunately, the government relies on the same professional bureaucracy that is indeed dedicated but You have failed time and time again, and it is impossible to move one professional official or another. We offered the government a package deal, the main point of which is that the government, the local authorities and the contractors sign a deal like in the 1980s that will lead to a drop in housing prices. This is not happening yet, but we hope that people there will come to their senses and continue to sit down with us so that we can tell them what the right directions are."
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