The press conference to present the government housing program/PR
And again, for the thousand and one time, a government housing plan is presented at a bombastic press conference with three ministers and endless statements: apartments for those eligible for no more than NIS 800,000 with priority for reservists in the periphery, in the Galilee and the Negev at a cost of NIS 1 billion, additional land for urban renewal that has been talked about for two decades without that on the ground something is moving, mega roof agreements, providing a state guarantee to construction companies in difficulties to reduce the banks' demand for the presale of apartments (for a fairly limited amount) and on and on and on.
The bonanza: an additional NIS 2 billion for a four-legged plan - concentration of effort to add working hands;
Speeding up barriers in local authorities, while taking steps to encourage construction among mayors;
taxation issues to speed up construction among contractors;
Speeding up the bringing of the foreign workers while being flexible in work permits.
On the other hand - as always, promises in the sky.
Three ministers (Treasury, Housing and the Interior) announced between now and now the holding of the press conference regarding a "new" housing plan for the public for 2024. Housing Minister Goldknopf declares: "History in Israel, everyone will have a proper roof over their heads," and again declares, as the first time, that the goal The main one is to lower housing prices and increase the supply of apartments.
Finance Minister Smotrich says: "Three partners have come together here - the land, the planning and the budget. The government is going through the war well. The shekel is strengthening and inflation is within target range. Budget increases will be for real estate, high tech and ultra-Orthodox employment."
And what about the things that were not said?
Despite the announcements, many important sections were left out.
The most important among them is the reduction of the purchase tax on apartments as demanded by the contractors, which can indeed quickly restart the activity of the industry around the investors who can be a locomotive not in the plan.
"The purchase tax will remain at the high rate today in order to keep investors away and keep apartment prices down. The purchase tax will remain in place," says the Director General of the Ministry of Finance, Shlomi Heisler, at the press conference.
The transportation of foreign workers to the country is also faltering. The renovation and infrastructure industry is on the verge of bankruptcy There are no workers for infrastructures, no workers for renovations, there is no regularization of flying in quantities. In India, people continue to be detained for weeks because of a screwed-up procedure for a policeman's visit to the employee's home (where has such a thing been heard?).
Who will still benefit from the big government program?
The government program, costing NIS 1.1 billion, is a program that will benefit mainly the ultra-orthodox population at a target price.
This, it should be noted, is in addition to reservists who receive significant benefits.
The largest construction volume today of thousands of apartments in mega saturated neighborhoods are planned today in Kiryat Gat, Beit Shemesh, Racsim, Nof Galil and Safed.
The settlement that today needs an injection of energy more than anything in the northern and southern periphery will enjoy less of it.
We note that this is a program without transparency and without clear criteria - Section 14 of the proposed government decision regarding the 'Government Plan to Incentivize and Accelerate the Real Estate and Residential Construction Sector' deals with the transfer of an unprecedented amount of budget - NIS 1.1 billion - to a series of localities that are not known and are not visible to the government ministers Who
determines the marketing expectations? What are these urban settlements? Is Metula included? Are the dying settlements included? Is Yeroham included? After all, these are national priority settlements. And it will be emphasized: already today they - the urban settlements - are entitled to a subsidy of 50% of development expenses and land Almost free (ridges: 90% discount compared to assessed price).
At the same time, the localities must be marked - including the cities included in national priority areas A1 and A2 that are not eligible for this subsidy. The criterion for a failed tender - is puzzling; is this meant for a failed tender in the ridges? It will be mentioned that Significant discounts have already been given in the development costs in tenders in the urban sector (cancellation of components that were burdened in development and were canceled).
In light of the enormous budget scope contained in section 14 and the lack of any detail regarding the beneficiaries of this budget in the words of the explanation - much is hidden from the revealed.
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"There is not a single tool here that will be a game changer"
In response to the government's plan to speed up the construction industry, the president of the Builders of Ha'aretz Association, Raul Sargo, said: "There are several important and good decisions in the framework presented by the government, such as subsidizing development expenses mainly in the periphery, additional land for urban renewal, providing a state guarantee to construction companies in difficulty to reduce the banks' demand for the presale of apartments ( in an amount that must be greatly increased) and more. At the same time, there is not a single tool here that will be a game changer for the difficult situation the industry found itself in after the seventh of October. We called on the government to reduce the purchase tax on apartments, which could indeed quickly re-energize the industry's activity And she decided not to decide, we presented the government with a plan to bring in tens of thousands of workers quickly, almost all of which has now been blocked. The lack of workers is critical and requires a systematic plan that needs to be led by one integrated government agency. We have experience and know that recruiting foreign workers only by their countries of origin will not be enough at this time In addition, the decision to determine the offset of foreign workers if the Palestinians are returned will in practice prevent the immediate recruitment of foreigners, and it is clear that we will need more workers anyway, and if Palestinians are returned to work in Israel in the future - we will need them too."
"Therefore, the route for recruiting foreign workers must be expanded through business cooperation between Israeli and foreign personnel corporations that proves to be fast and of high quality. The Ministry of Justice should do its job and supervise the personnel corporations that the government is leading. In addition, despite our repeated demands, it has been ignored the government from the need to recruit foreign workers also in the areas of infrastructure and renovations, which need 10,000 workers each, instead of the Palestinians. The government would do well if it returned to the discussion table today and immediately set rules that will release the barriers it itself created and are going to prevent the construction industry from returning to the outputs that are required of it for a very long time Time we don't have anymore," Sergo concludes.
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