Housing minister announces plan for 6,900 new units

MK Attias: This year the number of housing projects will surpass the demand, thereby cutting the ongoing shortage.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Holyland still on hold 521 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Holyland still on hold 521
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
The Construction and Housing Ministry on Monday announced plans to build 6,900 new housing units in 38 cities around the country. Among these more than one thousand will be built in the northern cities of Afula, Nahariya and Tiberias.
Approximately 300 of the new units will be built across the Green Line, mostly in Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron. Contracts to build these homes will be auctioned off to whomever offers the lowest sale price per unit. Contract bidding will begin within 60 days.
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Northern cities to receive significant numbers of new housing units include Kiryat Shmona, Tiberias and Beit Shean. In the center construction will take place in Rosh Ha'ayin, Kfar Saba and Lod, and in the South, Arad, Dimona, Mitzpeh Ramon, and Ashkelon.
Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias (Shas) said that since "the supply will surpass the demand, we are on the right track."
"For the first time in the last decade this year the number of housing projects will surpass the demand, thereby cutting the ongoing shortage. Bidding to rent in high demand areas is one of the effective solutions to the youth's housing shortage and will create a sophisticated housing market in Israel," MK Attias said.
This comes after a weekend of rallies across the country protesting both the exorbitant cost of apartments in high demand areas, and the inability of young adults to afford to buy homes with which to settle down and raise families.
The protests, which were joined by the National Student's Union, included a "tent city" set up on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard.
The tent demonstration was visited by various Knesset members and publicly supported by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.