Construction Minister Yoav Galant spoke about the challenge facing Israel with regards to the housing crisis currently affecting the country. “Our challenge is to supply more than 1 million residential apartments within the next 20 years, among them 200,000 need to be earmarked for the Charedi community.

Galant made the remarks at the annual Dun and Bradstreet Real Estate forum held two days ago in Givatayim. Minister Galant spoke about several existing tactics the government is using to alleviate the problems of the housing crisis including raffling off the rights to purchase subsidized apartments in various cities across the country, and the building boom that the country is currently witnessing.

The Minister last week said that he plans to double the number of residents in Gush Etzion, an area in high demand just south of Jerusalem that includes numerous Charedi and national religious towns. “The country has an obligation to build up Gush Etzion and to make sure that we multiply, by a factor of 1,000 the number of residents that live here now when compared to the number of residents who lived and died here in 1948.The area around Jerusalem, from Ma’aleh Adumim to Bethlehem and Kever Rachel, as well as Gush Etzion, Beitar, and Efrat is a strategic area, one that holds importance both strategically, historically and morally for the Jewish people. We will continue to strengthen Jewish communities throughout the country,” Galant promised.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)