Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday addressed the government’s expected passage of the housing clause of the Trajtenberg Committee for Socioeconomic Change’s recommendations on social justice, saying that it was "part of the government’s efforts to decrease the cost of living."
Speaking at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu stated that the adoption of the Trajtenberg Committee’s housing recommendations was an "attempt to increase the number of apartments…the more apartments there will be, the greater the pressure will be to decrease the price of apartments."
The Trajtenberg Committee was formed in the aftermath of last summer’s social justice protests. Many of its recommendations have already been adopted by the government.
As part of the Trajtenberg housing recommendations the government will advance projects to build 187,000 housing units over the next five years, 40,000 of which will be priced under the criteria of "affordable housing."
The recommendations also call for the building of smaller apartments, under 85 square meters, and levying fiscal penalties against those holding empty apartments.