Housing Minister Yosef Almogi announced today in Parliament, during debate on his Ministry’s budget, a new housing plan for families with limited means. At the same time, the Jewish Agency’s absorption department reported it had provided nearly 15,000 housing units to new immigrants during 1962.
Mr. Almogi said that apartments under the new Government plan would be two types, selling at 15,000 pounds ($5,000) and 17,000 pounds ($5,666), with the buyer required to provide half of the price, and the balance to be covered by a mortgage. He also said that, while home building has been carried out until now in a framework of a master plan for housing a population of 3,000,000, the time had come to prepare an overall plans for 5,000,000 inhabitants.
The Housing Minister said that the present policy of sending all new immigrants straight from ships to development areas should be discontinued. He added that the old and disabled among the newcomers should be sent to established areas where they could be more easily absorbed. On the other hand, he reported, there were veteran residents who were ready to go to development areas. He reported that 500 young couples had registered for housing in such areas during the past two weeks.
The Agency’s absorption department, in its report, said that its 15,000 housing units included 1,700 built especially for large families. The department said that 53 per cent of immigrants coming in 1962 were sent to development areas, and that the department had granted last year nearly 6,000 loans totalling, 5,000,000 pounds ($1,666,000), to help immigrants acquire housing, vocational and professional training and other urgent needs.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
