One of the major achievements of former Housing Minister (Shas) Ariel Atias was a housing subsidy for people buying an apartment in an outlying community. This perk is being eliminated by Finance Minister (Yesh Atid) Yair Lapid. This means that one purchasing such an apartment may still receive a bonus of up to 100,000 NIS until July 1, 2013. Anyone eligible for such assistance, referring to one purchasing a home in an eligible area, by the date specified, may apply for the grant. That final date to file is August 30, 2013. This pertains to the purchase of a new apartment only. The buyer will have to present his entitlement papers, which one receives from various governmental agencies.
The bad news is that for many, and this is where the chareidi community is hit especially hard, those who purchased homes via a non-profit organization are no longer entitled to the 100,000 NIS grant because they did not purchase a new apartment directly from the contractor, but through a third party, in this case, one of the non-profits established by chareidi askanim.
This week, the Knesset also passed a government bill to eliminate the grant in its first reading. This pertains to a grant for purchasing or renovating an apartment in Yerushalayim. The sum of this grant was also 100,000 NIS, a bill that was passed into law back in 2001.
Atias responded to the cancelation of the grants, telling the weekly Hashavua newspaper that for him, he is certain that Lapid canceled the grants to deliver another blow to the chareidim. He added that the decision by Lapid impacts 28 communities in northern and southern Israel. He added that Shas will continue fighting to have the grant reinstated.
Jerusalem Councilman (Yahadut Hatorah) Yosef Deutsch I quoted in the same report accusing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of breaking promises of working to increase building in the capital. He reminds Netanyahu that he spoke of 1,500 housing units in Ramat Shlomo as one example, but in reality, the Prime Minister’s Office has stopped marketing these homes.
It appears that once again the capital is in the midst of a US-imposed building freeze. Deutsch adds the grant that is being cancelled was another incentive to bring people to the capital but this too is being eliminated. Deutsch adds “It’s one thing to make declarations in the media and yet another to fulfill them,” Deutsch is quoted as saying.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Is this really an ANTI-Charedi bill?
Is the Charedi kehilla moving to southern and northern Israel, sounds like it effects many others…and why make housing so so expensive?
Good move by gov’t.
All this did was inflate the prices of housing in these communities.
Subsidy goes away, apts will sell for market value — which will now drop. At the end of the day, there will be no more out of pocket for the buyer, but less $$$ for Shas cronies.
1. Any bureaucratic move can be worked around. If the rule says no NGO can be involved, for profit corporations can be formed. etc. Any short of a law typing government benefits to army service will be easy to avoid (and, btw, that will be the sorts of policy used to attract recruits if they switch to a volunteer/professional army).
2. Israel can’t afford massive welfare state benefits, which benefit all Israelis. Israel has an economy that is border-line third world, and is trying to have benefits in lines with a very rich industrialized country (in some cases, exceeding countries such as the United States or Germany or Japan). This is the sort of policy that brought places such as Greece into disrepute. It should also be noted that government regulations reduce the supply of housing, so that a switch to free enterprise will make housing prices fall – assuming deregulation is not limited to elimination of market distortingt subsidies.
3. The standard of living of the hareidi community is the highest in history. If Israel defines its poverty line by what it was 50 years ago (i.e. in 1963), poverty is largely unknown.