Adalah Demands Israel Lands Administration Cancel Military Service Requirement for "Price for the Dweller" Housing Program
(Haifa, Israel) In a letter sent to Housing Minister Ariel Atias, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Chairman Benzi Lieberman, and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, Adalah urged the government to cancel the military service eligibility criteria for participation in the affordable home auction program "Price for the Dweller" because they exclude Arab citizens of the state. Adalah also requested that the program be implemented in Arab communities.
Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara emphasized in the letter sent on 3 April 2012 that the resolution of the Israel Lands Council for Advertising Affordable Housing tenders (Resolution No. 1249, 30.1.2012) provides that families with members who serve in the army or national service receive extra credit and are more likely to benefit from the program. Families where a spouse serves in the Active Reserves will enjoy additional eligibility points.
These criteria disqualify the majority of Arab citizens from participating in the affordable housing program. By blocking Arab participation, the program fails to create access to housing benefits for disadvantaged populations or equitable distribution of land.
Adalah noted that military service is part of existing legislation that already grants army veterans and reservists housing benefits. For example, the Absorption of Discharged Soldiers Law – 1994 states that residents who have completed military service are eligible for loans on housing from the government. The cumulative effect of additional legislation that uses military service as a criterion for participation makes Arab exclusion from participation disproportionate.
The letter argues that the tenders for subsidized home prices are also only available in Jewish towns / communities, further preventing participation from the Arab population. Adalah demands that Arab communities and land be included in the program as well.
Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel require significantly more affordable housing programs, as they experience the most severe housing crisis in the country. The housing shortage in Arab communities is rising quickly and is coupled with socio-economic hardship: official data from the National Insurance Institute in November 2011 shows that in 2010, 52.3% of Arab families in Israel lived below the poverty line, and that the wage difference between Jewish and Arab citizens was 37.2%. Arab communities are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the country. Therefore, creating criteria for the Price for the Dweller program should only take into account demand for housing, the location of the existing housing shortage, and the socio-economic status of the buyers.
Adalah noted that in a series of judgments, the Supreme Court ruled that the ILA must divide state land equitably and that land must be designated for the entire population, without discrimination based on nationality, religion, or socio-cultural background. Thus, the governmental affordable housing program should be made available in Arab and Jewish communities.
