The Ministry of Construction and Housing

Total Budget: 10 Billion NIS

Development Budget: 2 Billion NIS

Development Budget

Designated for Arab citizens: 108 Million NIS – 5.4%

Number of Employees: 300

Number of Arab employees: 3 → 1%

Issues:

1. Actualization of Mortgage Loans

The criterion of military service significantly diminishes the ability of Arab citizens to

actualize their entitlement to mortgage loans. A citizen who has not served in the army

is only entitled to 62% of the full mortgage loan. It would appear that this is the reason

that in the late 1990s only 8% of the country’s mortgage loan recipients were Arab

citizens.

2. Public Construction

· In the Arab communities, public construction for rental purposes, similar to Shikun Ovdim, Prazot, Amidar, etc. in Jewish communities, is non-existent.

· No new communities for Arab citizens have been established since the founding of the State.

· Since 1975, 337 thousand residential units have been built throughout the country, under public initiative, including planning, marketing and supervision by the Ministry of Housing, while only 1,000 residential units have been constructed in Arab communities since the establishment of the State.

These facts impose a special responsibility and heavy burden on the Ministry of Construction and Housing: The Ministry must propose a comprehensive plan for substantial change in the relation of the State to the housing requirements of its Arab citizens. This change must incorporate an accessible solution for both allocation of land for residential purposes and an equitable portion of the Ministry’s budgets.

3. Assistance for Rental Costs

Until 1999, the rules in effect determined that no financial assistance be given to residents of small communities, rather only to those residing in larger ones. As a result, many Arab citizens were unable to actualize their entitlement to rental assistance. Following an appeal by the Association for Citizens’ Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Ministry of Construction and Housing announced its intention to institute the following new criteria:

· The Ministry will no longer provide assistance for renters in any community (Jewish or Arab) with less than a thousand residents.

· In communities with over a thousand residents, rental assistance will be provided, on the condition that at least 5% of households are rental units (and that there are not less than 30 rental households in the community).

By adopting these criteria, the situation in which Arab citizens are unable to receive rental assistance will be perpetuated, because in Arab communities there is no public construction of rental units, and the rental system of residence is not as yet part of their lifestyle. There is no doubt that the need for it exists.

Young couples in Jewish development towns, for example, have full and immediate access to rental units, and thus are also able to obtain rental assistance. On the other hand, young Arab couples must reside with their families until they have accumulated enough money to build. A couple wishing to obtain rental assistance will have to ascertain that at least 30 families reside in rental units in the community. With no other alternative, these young couples will have to convince at least 30 others to make the family relationship a legal entity with regard to housing. This is a harsh and impossible condition, whose institution denies young Arabs the possibility of obtaining this benefit. For the above reasons, Arab citizens do not appear at all in the following table.

Ministry of Housing Budget for Rental Assistance Grants for 1999 (in NIS millions):

New immigrants: 935.8 77.4 %

Long-time citizens: 242.1 20.0 %

Others – public and senior housing: 30.6 2.53 %