United Torah Judaism party leader Yitzhak Goldknopf, who is poised to become the minister of construction and housing in the next government, said on Wednesday that he doesn't know if Israel actually has a housing crisis.
“People keep talking to me about a crisis. I didn’t have experience with the Construction and Housing Ministry, so I don't know if there really is a crisis in these areas,” Goldknopf told an urban innovation expo held in Tel Aviv.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics's monthly report, housing prices have skyrocketed by 20% year on year. When asked about this, Goldknopf said: “From what I see, there is construction all around the country. We’ll double, triple, and quadruple it, all in good time.”
“I keep hearing people say that construction plans are ready and all we need to do is approve them. I have good people present at the Construction and Housing Ministry already,” he added. “We’ll hire a plethora of workers, experts, and advisors. I think we’ll be able to make everyone happy in a few years.”
When asked about his lack of knowledge on the housing crisis, Goldknopf said: “I see construction is ongoing… I know that Israel wants to continue building, and we also hire workers from abroad when we need to. We’ll continue doing so and ask for more if needed.”
United Torah Judaism’s party platform ahead of the latest election promised to tackle issues pertaining to the rental housing market and to ramp up construction to provide more housing solutions.
Goldknopf appears to plan on pushing for the building of more ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and attempting to renegotiate a construction initiative for the ultra-Orthodox sector promoted by Shas leader Aryeh Deri during his previous term as interior minister.
The initiative was scrapped after current Housing and Construction Minister Ze’ev Elkin took office.
Goldknopf said that “we signed a coalition agreement, but still didn’t reach agreements on many fundamental and ideological topics, we still need to come to an agreement on them."
“One of the cardinal issues we’ve yet to agree on is the ministry’s budget and additional manpower. If we want to reach the target of tens of thousands of housing units built as the public expects, we require more manpower.”
In November, the Knesset’s Finance Committee approved significant changes to the state budget to the tune of NIS 7 billion ($2 billion), most of which was allocated to the Construction and Housing Ministry.
According to the Finance Committee, NIS 2 billion ($ 580 million) was allocated to the Construction and Housing Ministry for “advancing construction, readying lands for building, allocating land for construction, paying for public housing and purchasing more apartments to be used as public housing.”
When asked if the thought he’ll be able to reach 100,000 housing units per year to meet current demand, Goldknopf said: “I’d like for it to be more, because we need more. According to estimates I’ve seen, we need more than 100,000 apartments per year. We’re readying for it… I’m going into the Construction and Housing Ministry to dedicate myself to Israel and its development.”
When asked about the continuing housing crisis, Goldknofp responded that “I live here and I know the upper Israel and the lower Israel, those living in shacks and sheds, I know what a housing crisis is in the ultra-Orthodox populations where every two cellars are turned into an apartment."
When asked about what he plans to do once in office, Goldknofp said: “I’ll listen and learn. After studying for a month or two alongside the entire ministry’s team, I’ll present to the public an organized five-year plan. We’ll give hundreds of thousands of apartments to the public.”
On the topic of continuing government raffles on discounted apartments, Goldknofp said that “we’ll help with the raffles for apartments in all areas of Israel. Everything is on the table. We’re talking to every contractor, and they all met with me, the Construction and Housing Ministry’s director general also needs to do some work, not everything should be done by the minister.”
When asked about the option of freezing mortgage rates Goldknofp responded that “I’m not aware of it, these are issues that don’t have to do with the Construction and Housing Ministry, but we’ll handle it too should we need to.”
When asked about part of the public fearing he intends to only care for the interests of the ultra-Orthodox population, Goldknopf said: “I’m not a minister of the ultra-Orthodox community, but all of Israel. I think I can see that Israel is the entirety of its people without a difference of race and ethnicity.”