National Target: 1.5 Million New Homes by 2040

The Israeli government has taken a long view of the so far unsolved housing shortage, issuing a target figure on Monday of 1.5 million housing units for construction by the year 2040, Globes reported.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who also heads the housing cabinet, said: “For the first time in years, there is a strategic plan for both the short and long term. In the short term, the government is giving young couples and people without housing top priority, and is getting to the root of the housing problem. In the long term, our responsibility is to make sure that a new crisis does not emerge in the future.”

The plan is based on projections furnished by the National Economic Council for 2017-2040, which said the country should plan for a stock of 2.7 billion housing units for this period. Over the next four years, the planning system will have to approve 108,000 housing units a year, rising to 123,000 housing units a year in 2036-2040.

Geographically, the plan to 2040 breaks down as follows: 441,000 units for the northern district, 315,000 for the Haifa district, 657,000 for the central district, 436,000 for the Tel Aviv district, 369,000 for the Yerushalayim district, and 490,000 for the southern district.