The Ministry of Construction and Housing approved a plan Thursday to forego collecting rent on public housing from internally displaced Israelis and families of those kidnapped to Gaza on October 7, for the duration of the war. In the coming days, the ministry will make the necessary preparations to implement the policy, a statement said.
To be eligible for the program as an internally displaced person, an applicant must have been evacuated from their residence by an official state entity on or after October 7, or else be a resident of one of the communities on a list to be published on the website of the Ministry of Housing and Construction in days to come. First-order relatives of those kidnapped to Gaza are also eligible for the program.
Residents of public housing who belong to these groups will be able to submit an application starting December 1 to have their rent canceled for the duration of the war. The cancellation will apply retroactively, and the wartime period will be defined according to the declaration of a special situation on the home front. That status was applied to the country on October 8, and is in place until December 19, at which point it can be renewed or allowed to lapse.
Goldknopf: support for this population is a "moral obligation"
The Ministry of Construction and Housing continues to assess the needs of those eligible for this relief, and is examining additional steps, it said in a statement. “We have a moral obligation to help this population as much as possible,” Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf said, adding that the relief “will give them a little bit of peace of mind in these days.”
Yehuda Morgenstern, Director General of the Ministry, said the plan was one part of a “basket of tools” that the ministry is developing to support residents of public housing. He thanked partners in the Ministry of Finance for their role in carrying out the program.