From Health to Housing

Former Health Minister and current Housing Minister Yaakov Litzman will enter his new office this week with plenty of plans to implement. He doesn’t need on-the-job training. He was one of the central planners of the first chareidi neighborhoods of Beit Shemesh.

But he’s taking over the office at a low point in relations between the department and the constituency he represents. Don’t expect the chareidi housing crisis to be solved in 2020. Due to the lack of a functioning government for the past year, the planning administration did not consider a single plan for the chareidi community in 2019. The housing ministry has only 4,947 apartments left for the chareidi sector, and only 3,518 of these are included in the bids made public until now. All the rest, over 1,400 housing units, are expected to be marketed in the future, but plans have not yet been finalized.

Nevertheless, in a conversation with senior fellow and managing director of the Haredi Institute for Public Affairs Rav Yitzchak Pindrus, he said that Litzman, along with the Planning Administration head and Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri, could bring about change. “There’s need for a comprehensive solution for all the different sectors,” Pindrus said. “This will be up to Litzman, and I believe he’ll be able to acquit himself of the task with honor.”

Pindrus advises Litzman to act on three levels. “Mixed cities — to reopen agreements with local authorities regarding construction of new neighborhoods or sign new agreements to soften their reluctance regarding the entrance of chareidi populations to their cities.