Knesset Panel Blocks Bill Allowing Public Housing Tenants to Buy Homes at Discount

The Knesset Interior Committee decided on Sunday not to advance a bill that would have allowed public housing tenants to purchase their apartments at a state-subsidized discount. The bill, which passed its first reading about six months ago, will no longer be promoted during the current Knesset session. The proposal faced repeated delays due to strong opposition from the Finance Ministry and reservations from the Ministry of Construction and Housing, which argued that selling public housing units would further reduce the already limited public housing stock.

Tenants advocating for the bill countered that the government could invest in building or acquiring new public housing instead of blocking the law. Committee Chairman Yitzhak Kroizer stated that although the bill's advancement was postponed until the next Knesset, the committee secured approximately 450 million shekels for renovating existing public housing and purchasing new units. Kroizer emphasized that the committee had done more for public housing tenants than ever before.

The bill was a renewal of a 1998 temporary law allowing long-term public housing tenants to buy their apartments at subsidized rates, aiming to help families break the cycle of poverty and to replenish the public housing stock with proceeds from sales. Although the law was enacted permanently in 2013, only about 15,000 discounted sales occurred over ten years, with only around 1,000 new units purchased to replace sold ones.

Currently, about 4,500 people await public housing under the Housing Ministry, with another 7,000 waiting under the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption. Delays in renovation budgets have left roughly 1,000 apartments uninhabitable pending repairs. Lawmakers supporting the bill, including Naama Lazimi, urged Kroizer not to yield to pressure and to bring the bill to a vote, accusing the coalition of trading the law away at the expense of Israel's poorest citizens.

Kroizer and the Finance Ministry argued that renovation budgets would address tenant needs, but critics noted these funds were already part of routine maintenance and had been delayed due to coalition disputes. Danny Gigi, chairman of the Public Housing Forum, called the decision a "sad day," stressing the bill's importance in securing stable housing for Israel's poorest families.