Jerusalem, 20 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s Minister of Construction and Housing, Haim Katz, and Director General of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and the Authority and Deputy Director General of the Government Authority for Urban Renewal, Yehuda Morgenstern, held a roundtable with leading entrepreneurs last weekend that dealt with the challenges of implementing urban renewal projects and ways to remove barriers that hinder their progress.
During the meeting, an open and in-depth discussion took place, in which the entrepreneurs pointed out key barriers that hinder the implementation of the projects, including: the issue of the reluctant tenant, the lack of economic viability as a result of land values, high implementation costs, the effects of the interest environment, the involvement of the Housing and Housing Authority in some projects, difficulties in development agreements, the method of collecting improvement levies, and general price increases in the industry. Alongside this, proposals for possible regulatory and planning solutions were presented.
The Director General of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Deputy Head of the Governmental Authority for Urban Renewal, Yehuda Morgenstern, noted that there are over 100,000 housing units in approved plans that have not yet been realized into building permits, mainly in the center of the country, due to a damage to economic viability in light of the increase in construction costs.