Elazar Bamberger, Director of the Authority for Urban Renewal/Nau Media
The conference of the Eilat Real Estate Center 2024 in collaboration with Media Real Estate, which was hosted by senior officials of the real estate industry, ministers and government representatives, mayors and other senior officials in the economy, continues to provide headlines. In the lunch session of the second day of the conference, Elazar Bamberger, director of the Urban Renewal Authority, was interviewed , and spoke about the plans for urban renewal in the shadow of the war.
In a surprising statement by Bamberger, he claimed that heads of authorities who do not promote urban renewal pay a price for it: "It is known that the heads of authorities are the ones who formulate local urban renewal policies, and those who do not do so pay a price for it. Without mentioning names, every authority head we fought with lost the elections."
Furthermore, according to him, "We want to use the situation as an opportunity and promote urban renewal in cities that have been hit hard - boulevards and paths, cities that were not really the priorities of the governments are becoming. The same goes for Kiryat Shmona. We are fighting to have a subsidy for Sderot, Nitivot, Ofakim.
Mayors who do not promote urban renewal pay a price/Reuven Castro
Bambarger pointed out: "One of the most significant things following the war is a deep understanding and internalization that the security issue is critical. You buy an apartment when the MAD is the most important. In the end, it promotes renewal."
Bamberger added that "the elections are causing a slowdown in licensing, but I had the feeling that they managed to moderate the effect of the elections and ended the year with the promotion of planning for 40 thousand units. Licensing worked, there was only a slight decrease in permits." If it weren't for the war, Bamberger pointed out, "we would have enjoyed greater success in the field of urban renewal in 2023, but the war also accelerated projects and we will
see that in the coming year." These are grants of NIS 20 and 30 thousand for each housing unit that receives a permit. This is money that comes from a government decision. We received a budget of NIS 120 million and we will close framework agreements with 7 other authorities throughout the country."
According to him, the incentives brought about a change in the conduct of the authority, "It really makes you rub your eyes - a local authority is chasing entrepreneurs in order to win a grant. It makes quick work," Bamberger concluded.
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"We are promoting a pilot to bring in thousands of Palestinian workers"
According to Eitan Dangut, who previously served as the coordinator of the government's operations in the territories, "the decision made on October 7 to stop the entries from Judea and Samaria is correct. The question is the interim period and deciding what happens in the short term. Right now it is risk management during which we could start piloting a new process. If we do not contain and produce change, then we fail. There is a consensus in the security establishment that there is room to release pressure from Judea and Samaria and allow an initial pilot of a few thousand to be launched. If we make it through Ramadan, there is an opportunity to do that."
Yigal Slovik, CEO of the Contractors Association, continued his words and said that ""The State of Israel made a mistake even before this by imposing the entire functional continuity of construction and infrastructure in Israel to rely only on the Palestinians. The industry can continue to work, not at 100 percent output, but at least partially. In the result test, the war broke out on October 7 and on October 8, the industry found itself with minus 85,000 workers. Today, on March 28, we failed the result test."
"It should be noted that the number of foreign workers in Israel today is greater than the number of foreign workers that existed before the war." Eyal Siso, CEO of the Population Immigration Authority, surprised. According to him, "We are looking for as many countries as possible to try to bring in workers. There are construction corporations that bring the workers, we are ultimately a regulator that approves. There are other factors and we are under international supervision all the time and must play by the rules in an international field. We work within the framework of international norms. After foreign workers were injured and killed in the north, employers called from their countries and demanded to take them out."
"What we need now is mainly manpower to end the bureaucracy as quickly as possible. We help both corporations and the Ministry of Housing in order to reduce bureaucracy," Siso concluded.
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