Housing Minister Says Development Pacts Were 'Fake,' Pushes New Sales Deals
Housing Minister Haim Katz said that after taking office he convened all the ministry’s legal advisers and told them to reach a decision that would let the government resume marketing under the housing agreements, known as agreements of roof. Speaking at the Mizrahi Tefahot Bank real estate conference with Yedioth Ahronoth, he said he did this because, in his view, all such agreements signed in the previous year were “fake.” Katz quoted himself telling the lawyers that he had come “to try to work,” and that he did not care which ruling they reached, only that he could proceed on that basis.
Katz said the lawyers issued a decision after three and a half hours, and מאז then the ministry has signed 17 agreements. He said the 18th would be signed that day in Karnei Shomron, covering 5,800 housing units and a 1 billion shekel investment in development. He added that renewed agreements had already been signed in Ramat HaSharon, Safed, Yeruham and Nahariya, and that since 2013 Israel has signed about 50 agreements of this type.
He also discussed the affordable housing program, saying it originally reserved 35 percent of each marketing round for reservists, מתוך the 50 percent set aside for combat soldiers. Katz said he decided in the Israel Lands Authority council to raise the reservist share to 50 percent, while creating a separate 100 percent reservist lottery in which, he said, there are no draft dodgers. He claimed that after he insisted on the plan, he received 60,000 registration records within an hour from people who did not serve in the army, and said he opened the lottery about 10 to 14 days ago.
On rental housing, Katz said only two small tenders had been carried out, in Nof HaGalil and Haifa, totaling about 500 units. He said the ministry cannot handle everything at once and compared his situation to his previous stint as welfare minister, when he described the ministry as overwhelmed like a major car crash.
Katz also said he was struggling to hold four cabinet portfolios at once and suggested two should be taken away. He noted that he recently signed off on moving psychiatric hospitals as both health and housing minister, including facilities in Be’er Ya’akov, Mzor in Acre and Nes Tziona. He said the projects could free land near the sea and for housing and hotels in Acre, and noted that Be’er Ya’akov alone involves 8,500 housing units.
