photographer: Michael Feigin

Tourism Minister Mesezhnikov and MK Faina Kirshenbaum slammed new Israel Land Authority criteria for affordable housing at a meeting of the Knesset Local Authorities Caucus on Wednesday.

  Minister Mesezhnikov presented Israel Beiteinu’s position on the ILA program, which gives more eligibility points towards affordable homes to those who served in the IDF – but not to families in which both parents work.

“This is a war on our home, and our right to buy a home,” he said. “The rule should be that whoever gives [to the state] should get in return.”

Mesezhnikov commended Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Attias for including points for those who served in the IDF, but said that the change is insufficient.

Calling the current situation “twisted,” the tourism minister said that employment – even if it is part-time – should be a prerequisite for eligibility for affordable housing.

“This is important for the lion’s share of Israel’s population, the majority that was quiet for a long time, but not anymore,” Mesezhnikov said.

However, he added, Israel Beiteinu does not see this as a reason to leave the coalition. Rather, the party will work within the government to “bring social justice, without banging on the table, making threats and further dragging the country into electionsmania.”

MK Faina Kirshenbaum took issue with the fact that single parents are almost automatically ineligible for affordable housing, because being married adds points.

The major reasons for eligibility points should be IDF or national service, and working and paying income tax, she said.

“Otherwise, affordable housing will exist – but not for the general public,” Kirshenbaum explained.

(JPost)