The year 2024 presents us with greater question marks than ever, especially after the tragedy of October 7 and in light of the fact that the routine of war continues to accompany us. Everyone is already dealing with the intelligence and military failure, and in the process trying to understand what will happen the day after, but what about the day-to-day conduct, the one for which the public needs solutions here and now?
The feeling is that the government is not providing the proper solutions for the time being – if at all – and that the country is entering the new year in a problematic situation and lack of response – especially for the weak and needy populations.
130,<> families have been evacuated from their homes since the beginning of the war, and this is only the official number, with many thousands more choosing to evacuate voluntarily because of the sense of insecurity and protection problems in cities and towns along the conflict lines. There is great uncertainty not only about when they will be able to return to their homes, but also about the number of families who will decide not to do so.
After the rebuilding - how many will really want to return? Kibbutz Nir Oz,
Despite the fact that this is one of the largest crises that has occurred here – among other things in terms of displacement of residents from their homes – the government still has no answers, courses of action or an organized plan for dealing with the many problems that arise from the field, including housing.
And all this, unfortunately, is only the promo for the housing disaster predicted by many government committees around the extent of the destruction and destruction in the event of the great earthquake that may occur in Israel, according to statistics of once every century. The numbers talked about in such a scenario are much larger than the situation today, reaching half a million evacuees. But this is already a separate and worrisome scenario in itself.
When both sides lose
The most pressing problem is that the government has not yet given answers about those 70,<> families who have been living in hotels for more than two months and must receive a solution of a home, not a temporary room. Life in hotels does not allow for a sane reality, and solutions must be created for these people both in the short term, because it is not clear how long the war will last, and in the long term, because already everyone understands that many of them will refuse to return to live in the conflict zones.
Another big problem that needs to be addressed is that tens of thousands of evicted citizens are still forced to pay rent every month, because the government has not found a solution – nor has it hinted that it is heading in any direction – to the question of who bears the burden of rent. The Ministry of Housing or the Ministry of Justice must deal with the crisis that has been created, in which on the one hand there are tenants who cannot live in the apartments they rented, and on the other hand there are apartment owners who demand their money because they have to pay a mortgage or subsist on the payments on the property.
Nor did the government provide any detailed response to the most needy – residents of public housing and recipients of rental assistance – who had become more needy during wartime. 95% of public housing apartments are unprotected, and reports reveal that the poorer you are, the less protected you are. These people, who suffer from lack of protection and poverty, are also the most vulnerable, and so far the Ministry of Housing has no plan on how to provide them with an economic protection envelope against the severe consequences of the war.
And if it is not enough that there is no comprehensive plan to rehabilitate public housing and help tens of thousands of people waiting, the concern is now that some of the resources of public housing will also be transferred to other areas that require emergency care.
For example, just last week, Minister of Construction and Housing, Yitzhak Goldknopf, praised Amidar for allowing evacuees to live in public housing, but did not address the huge shortage for those waiting and eligible and the fact that housing evacuees in public apartments comes at their expense, because there is no new budget to deal with the variety of new problems that have arisen.
Danny Gigi, CEO of the Public Housing Forum, notes that "in cities such as Ashkelon, Ofakim and others, which were not evacuated by the state, thousands of families left on their own because they did not have sufficient protection and felt that their lives were in danger.
For very poor tenants who receive rent assistance from the state in unprotected apartments, the situation is even more complicated. They are forced to live temporarily elsewhere and pay rent to the landlords, when the financial means at their disposal are meager to begin with."
A multi-ministerial plan is required
Added to all this are the objective problems of the construction industry, which include tremendous difficulty in recruiting workers, the problematic interest rate environment and its consequences, and the paralysis in the economy as a result of the war.
The Ministry of Housing has tried to provide partial solutions, such as strengthening the institutional rental market passed this week by regulations or the partial attempt to help public housing tenants with rent payments, but these are too small steps with even smaller budgets during a tsunami. All these problems require a comprehensive plan by the Ministry of Housing, which will deal simultaneously with short- and long-term solutions.
Such a plan should examine how to protect the apartments in the conflict zones, how to create more stock in public housing for those who were homeless even before the war, how to rehabilitate the construction industry, and what solution will enable people to be accommodated in livable apartments outside the conflict zones.
It is clear that not everything can be decided by the Ministry of Housing and that extensive inter-ministerial work is required, but the minister in charge must put the problems on the table and initiate a meaningful discussion on the issue at the first stage.
Only in this way will it be possible to deal with the new and larger housing crisis we are facing due to the war.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us