A ministerial committee for housing, construction and real estate matters will be established as soon as possible, following government approval of the resolution to do so, the Construction and Housing Ministry announced.
The committee will be chaired by Housing and Construction Minister MK Yitzhak Goldknopf and will include the Finance, Interior, Energy, Transportation, Education, Development of the Negev and Galilee Peripheries, Environmental Protection, Settlement and Agriculture Ministers.
Powers of the committee
"I welcome the establishment of the Housing cabinet under my chairmanship. This is a significant and important move to achieve solutions and remove barriers to promote the construction of new housing units, Goldknopf said of the news.
"The resolution grants broad powers to fully handle housing, construction and related infrastructures, real estate areas related to the management of the land supply and broad and comprehensive government housing policy decisions.
"I am confident that all factors will contribute to the process in order to realize the main mission and our moral duty - providing the possibility of purchasing a roof for young couples as well as the homeless," he continued. "I plan to call the members of the cabinet to a first meeting in the coming days. There is a lot of work ahead of us and we must start as soon as possible."
The establishment of the committee aims to lower housing prices and to increase the supply of apartments by pooling resources between all the parties and ministries.
The committee will determine government policy, including the approval and promotion of reforms and structural changes to streamline policy in the field of real estate. Additionally, it will initiate, plan and carry out residential construction and monitor the implementation of decisions optimizing land use.
It will also promote projects in the field of residential construction like affordable housing, long-term rental housing and public housing.
"Establishing the housing cabinet is critical and important for synchronizing the professional elements of the government ministries in order to support and promote significant steps in the real estate industry," Yehuda Morgenstern, CEO of the Ministry of Housing and Construction added.
"The desire to pool resources, to harness all the factors and offer an adequate and proper response to all the citizens of Israel on the way to living under a stable roof, this is our goal."