States turning off every 4th street lamp; 4 day schools weeks; paying with IOUs The country having a problem even paying interest on its huge debts. Like Thatcher said, "Socialism is fine until you run out of other people's money".

1) Force developers to build affordable homes. 2) The government could offer special mortgages for first time buyers on the condition they live there a minimum number of years ( not buying a bargin then making a quick sale ). 3) Encourage developers to reclaim slums, make quality affordable housing. Good for developer who makes money, good for the home buyer who gets a nice place and good for the city which replaces a slum with a family friendly neighborhood. 4) Encourage developers to do up old buildings rather than tearing them down. The cost to the developer of building something new is higher than refurbishing an old building so it means they have to sell the apartments for more money. 5) Limit the number of properties a foreigner can buy without special permission, that will help control the foreign investors who want to buy up property to rent. 6) Revap the rental laws and put more power into the hands of the tenant rather than the owner. We need a balance where both owner and tenant have a simmilar ammount of rights so the cards are not stacked against either side.

I wonder if your post is designed to "stir the pot" and just help market this absurd article. Tell me are you Shai Zamir by any chance? London doesn't have any sort of program for affordable housing in the heart of the city, thats absolute rubbish and if it does then explain which affordable housing program that exists now allows me to live in the top, London central locations like Covent Garden, Piccadily or Mayfair? And places like Givatayim which is considertably more affordable than Tel Aviv central DOES NOT take an hour and a half to get to central Tel Aviv. If you cycle it takes even less time. As for this rubbish that you post about "the poor sabra" you are not seriously saying that those who were born in Israel deserve more rights than those who were not? If anything those that moved here bringing their wealth and paying taxes, leaving behind family have had it tougher, if not financially then emotionally - try a 16 hour flight to visit your family in LA once per year. Crybaby is right. Man up!!

Some things inherrently wrong with your post; 1. Developers don't make "quality affordable housing" thats not why they are in business. Developing sites costs huge amounts, its a very risky business. The reason why no developers have taken up the Israeli govts proposal to build "affordable housing" is because its a misnomer. Its impossible to build apartment buildings that are affordable, it... costs... money. Geddit? 2.Lol... encourage developers to do up old buildings rather than tear them down... ok. You still don't get it do you? In actual fact it COSTS MORE to develop and existing building than to tear it down and build a new one. Its actually more cost effective to tear buildings down and start again then fiddle around with old buildings that need patching up. The real problem here is that Israel is a tiny country and a very successful one. Sorry, reality bites. Deal with it.

Yeah...it's been something I've been watching for years and it's a shame. Jews have a better kupf than most but this clearly shows what we Jews look like (yet AGAIN!!!) when we yearn soooo much to be like the rest if the world and will ditch a level head (and our fellow Jews) when a little money comes into the picture. It's just really sad and pathetic to watch. Rather than defining ourselves by our own standards, we chose an alien standard and the empty life of chasing shekles. Sad, sad indeed to watch Israel fall into the trap of materialism and gross national product rather than "Gross National Happiness"...now watch the divisions begin and an impossible living standard for the masses become a reality. All which can be shattered by Hezbollah in a single day. WAKE UP ISRAEL! DONT BE FOOLISH!!

A couple of centuries ago, we had the same situation. A rather crowded seaboard and lots of restless people who wanted a better life. What they did was move to the unsettled land outside the cities. With better government policy, you too could move to the unsettled land in Israel. Judea and Samaria would be wonderful places to build a home and a life. Instead of asking for the laws of supply and demand to be changed, ask for government support to rebuild Jewish towns and cities in Judea and Samaria.

even tsfat is getting expensive - prices have rocketed in the last couple of years.. and the number of really decent apartments to rent are few and far between... when i say decent i mean without mould, with a proper bathroom and fitted kitchen and a balcony and a view... and not a building with broken elevators, mould on the outside, never mind the inside, draughts, and no view or balcony... and with high rents and few jobs it's hard to make it...we need more new affordable housing.. including student housing for the new medical school and the academic college...and rent subsidies for people on low incomes..even tho that can cause rent hikes if it's not properly regulated.. perhaps good quality low rent properties could be built by amidar and other housing associations.. otherwise we will all end up sleeping on the streets for real...not just for protest...

why people always have to blame everything on the settlers, even the real estate prices in TLV??? you must be kidding me? And by the way, not only the French Jews are taking over the city. They are enough rich Israelis who live there.

As much as I sympathise with Shai Zamir,and I do,I still find myself saying "That's life!!". As far as I'm aware,Tel Aviv is roughly similar to my home city.The situations are very similar;popular districts near the city centre that are very expensive and further-out suburbs where housing is cheaper although it might even be of the same quality if not better. In Britain we have the concept of 'the housing ladder' that you move up,rung by rung,as you progress through your career,become more affluent and your needs increase. The important thing is to get your foot on the first rung even if it isn't an ideal whole-lifetime home.That requires hard work and saving.It might also require sacrifices in life style;less entertainment,a cheaper car,fewer holidays. People in Shai Zamir 's position must take a hard look at their priorities and understand that you cannot have everything all at once. If things still cannot work out for Mr Zamir,perhaps he'd like to try his luck in Newcastle upon Tyne.We could do with some more Jews around here.But I warn him in advance,he wouldn't be able to afford a house near the shul. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

is it realistic that the author emigrates to newcastle-upon-tyne? do you known how much income he has? is he able to emigrate? does he has to be sponsored to make the trip and a new life possible or lend money from a bank? if he does not want to emigrate or if he is not able to do so then he can better try to find a house in the environment/ in his present country.

One country is The State of Tel Aviv and the other is the rest of Israel. Telling someone to move out of the central region is analogous to asking them to move to another country.

The same thing has happened in the US. We have a President (obama) that is a pawn for the UN, EU and Saudi Arabs, so more and more people are homeless, 50 million Americans are on food stamps or welfare but the Europeans and China are here, with our money that was stolen from tax payers by global bankers, and now they are building enclaves of global wealth and BTW, these same people are funding those flotilas and pushing to make Hamas legit, because Europeans want Tel Aviv due to those oil supplies,which they found sitting in the sea.

You are living in a housing bubble. Home values can't exceed salary. Home values dropped 50% in USA. The same will happen in Israel. Just give it time. Then rent will become cheaper. If it appears too expensive, it is.

What's the matter with this guy? South Tel Aviv is not good enough for him? There is still affordable housing in Schunat Ha'Tikveh, Kiryat Shalom, Shapira, Neve Ofer, Kfar Shalem. What? S. Tel Aviv not fancy enough for you? Spoiled Brat.

i couldnt agree more. it is the same situation in every european capital. in vienna the residential houses in the centre are populated by old people who inherited the appartements/buildings or by foreign residents, mostly rich russian citizens. most students rent in the outskirts. our luck is that the public transport here is very reliable and the subway runs during the night .

Despite having lived in and enjoyed the Gush, I believe that the government is cynically using the distorted Israeli economy to force lower-class Israelis past the Green Line in order to further consolidate the territories.

I'm afraid that all those questions will have to be addressed to Mr Zamir.I cannot possibly speak for him so why ask me? What I can say is that if Shai Zamir did emmigrate to Newcastle upon Tyne,he'd be shocked to find out what wide social divisions really are and in what poor housing conditions many people have to live.He'd soon count his blessings,rush back to Tel Aviv and learn to cut his suit according to the clothe. justice for allworld ought to try a bit of humour for allworld. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!

Silly #8 doesn't know much about America. The current US economic crisis was a result of 8 years of Bush policies, who inherited a vast surplus from Clinton and turned it into a deficit through tax cuts for the upper classes combined with increased military spending. Obama hasn't been able to fix it, but he certainly isn't the one who created the deficit. These facts are easily accessible. #47 is right, but there's nothing new about the Israeli economy forcing people over the green line. A writer in Zeek identified this years ago, the snobbery of the inherited-property-leftists of Tel Aviv who leverage their grandparents' labor into a cafe lifestyle while sneering at hard-working, hyper-zionist Anglo olim who end up living in the shtichim because they can't afford anything else. Guess who's paying more taxes?

In the 70 's, a couple that wanted to get married and buy an apartment usually worked 2 or 3 jobs in order to afford the down payment and that was in Haifa. By the time they had the apartment they couldn't afford furniture.

You want cheap? You can buy a decent 3/2 house in my neighborhood for $50-60k; about 6 miles from the beach.

Blame it on Bush waaaa!!! Actually, ever heard of Barney Frank and Chuck Shumer? THey are the ones who forced banks to lend money to people who couldn't afford it in the 90's. They are a primary cause of the US economic crisis. No Obama hasn't been able to fix it, he has only contributed to it! Obama has racked up more debt then every US president COMBINED!!!

House prices in and out of Tel Aviv are absolutely absurd. Even homes in towns 40 minutes outside Tel Aviv are ridiculous. Greedy people trying to cash in make me sick.

In all western countries there is a affordable rental because are companies that build aparment buildings and complexes only for rental. what is it about israel that does not encourage this here? is it the taxes or is it government policy that everyone should own their own apartment which in reality is not possible with the low salariesm high taxes and current prices of apartments today!!! i travel a lot and meets many israels living all over the world long term and when i ask them why they are not living in israel the anwer usually is who can afford to buy and apartment and raise a family in israel unless they are rich or get help from family. over 1 million israels and their families are living overseas, that a very high percentage of the population living in israel. no other western country has a percentage as high as this. this is a national disgrace that effect all segments of the country, the right, the left, the secular and religious. lat night i passed a large development of hundreds of apartments with only about 10 percent of the lights on and upon asking was told almost all the apartments were owned by foreigners who come here only a few weeks a year!! same on use for allowing people living here to be in such a difficult situation.

Peres MUST move to Negev town, as Ben Gurion did, not to buy a villa in Tel Aviv for investment

USA gave out mortgages to those that couldn't afford them with no money down. Even when I had a very high paying job, in Israel standard, no bank would give me a mortgage, or at least not enough to buy anything buy a cardboard box on the street. My rent in Israel takes me 3 weeks of work to pay, and the rents are going up at about 20% a year (that is in the burbs, far from the city.) The salary is usually going up about 3%, so every year I put less money in the bank and know that eventually I will have to live on the street, since no salary will cover the rent.

Anywhere in Gush Dan is unaffordable without family money and backing of some sort. The distress of the middle and working classes has been growing for years. I and most of my friends have moved out, mainly to settlements, in the last few years. A lot have also emmigrated.