According to information obtained ACRI, the Ministry of Tourism has about 1,300 pending appeals by evacuees to recognize their eligibility for housing grants, which are denied to them due to false reports regarding their stay in hotels. All of the families are subjected to broken bureaucracy and ongoing mishandling of their requests. Some have not received grants for many months and are forced to pay out of pocket for housing and living solutions. Some of the evacuees even received housing grants in the past, and when a claim, sometimes completely unfounded, arises that they are not entitled to them due to their stay at the hotel, they become debtors to the National Insurance Institute through which the grants are paid. In addition, many appeals are not answered at all, and when they are answered – even when they are rejected – they are neither reasoned nor in writing.
On July 24, 2024, we sent urgent legal correspondence to the Minister of Tourism to establish a mechanism for speedy handling of evacuees' appeals against the false reports that they are still staying in hotels. Attorney Maskit Bendel from ACRI argued that the Ministry of Tourism's reliance on the hotels' reports, despite their conflict of interest, and the lack of clear timetables or reasoned decisions in rejecting appeals, violates basic principles of administrative law and violates the evacuees' rights to due process, access to the courts and a dignified existence in their difficult time. Thus we requested:
Immediately establish a transparent mechanism for handling appeals
Establish clear procedures for handling appeals, including timetables and reasoned written decisions
Not to report ineligibility for a housing grant to the National Insurance Institute for 45 days after rejection of an appeal, in order to allow the appellants time for further legal action if necessary.