Israel’s Ministry of Construction and Housing signed an agreement with the Amidar company for the management and maintenance of public housing in the amount of approximately 6.2 billion Shekels ($1.7 billion) for 7 years.
The agreement includes a variety of areas of activity in which Amidar will act as the executive arm of the ministry in order to ensure the well-being of the public housing residents. Also, the agreement includes for the first time the provision of long-term rental services according to which Amidar will rent apartments on the free market and rent them to those eligible for housing assistance from the state.
In addition, within the framework of the agreement, Amidar will rent the apartments to those entitled to public housing, will be responsible for managing the apartment inventory, carrying out renovations and maintenance procedures, promoting urban renewal projects and projects in the field of rental housing for those entitled on behalf of the state.
The agreement places the highest priority on the service for the residents of the public housing and is expected to lead to a significant upgrade in the field, in which the handling times for defects in the apartments will be updated, waiting times at the branches and the call center will be shortened, service will be implemented in a variety of languages and the satisfaction indicators of the tenants with the service will be defined.
In addition, emphasis will be placed on improving the ministry’s supervision and control capabilities over Amidar, through data reporting and performing procedures for control and tracking targets and more.
According to the new agreement, the maintenance of the public housing apartments will be significantly upgraded through accelerated entry into urban renewal projects, improvement of the process of purchasing new apartments, expansion of preventive maintenance and additional budgeting for maintenance of cracks.
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