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Tel Aviv tent protest: Hundreds slam housing costs
Billie Frenkel
Published: 14.07.11, 22:57
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17 Talkbacks for this article
1. Use your imagination and skills more
Ypip ,   Canada   (07.14.11)
beyond pitching your ever-so lovely tent. 1. Urban gardening (check) 2. Tea shops (check) 3. Bicycle repair (check) 4. ? What's your point? Have you gone bonkers and have lost the spirit of the City? What's the glue in your shoe?
2. The most precious commodity in the world today
Ypip ,   Canada   (07.14.11)
Is not gold, silver, or any other precious metal. It is SERVICE. So, through this time I'd best suggest we pay attention to one another and not immanent objects that block that spirit towards our regard. Affordable housing is necessary among such lovely shiny structures or you can kiss your condo goodbye.
3. govenrments dont control housing prices
zionist forever   (07.15.11)
The main problems are the fact that rich tourists and investors come to Israel and buy up the property either as holiday homes or as investments that they will rent out. A good way to solve this one would be to limit the number of properties that can be purchased by foreigners without special permission. Investors must show it would be in the best interests of the city for them to be allowed to buy up so much property. Another problem is based on Israeli mentality itself. We live in a ghetto culture where we all have our place. Religious are in Jerusalem and the Yeshe. The arabs are in the north and secular Jews on thee coast. We just don't venture outside our little comfort zones so we have a shortage of housing which drives up prices. Since the days of Ben Gurion successive governments have been talking all about making the Negev bloom and Judaizing the Galilee but nobody has ever made real economic investment. Nefesh B Nefesh are making more effort to get people to move to the Galilee than the government. If government wants to get Israelis out the big cities and into the Negev & Galilee then they need to try and change the ghetto culture to make people want to move. Get people out the cities it will bring down house prices nationwide, create jobs and encourage private sector investment. Another problem is the pro settlements groups. I am not against settlements but they have gone beyond providing homes and turned into an obsession. The settlers see themselves as pioneers by building homes for Jews on Jewish land. if they wanted to be real pioneers they would move to the Galilee and Negev. Its still Jewish land and in need of being reclaimed from the arabs and bedouin. There is no one single problem and nothing you can really pin on any individual government its going to take major reforms at a political and mental level to solve the housing problem.
4. Tel Aviv Brought this on themselves
Nicolas ,   Los Angeles, USA   (07.15.11)
If you idiots in Tel Aviv think that housing cost are high now, then just keep on backing Hamas and the PA for 1967 borders and force Israel to pile jews into those areas like Tel Aviv since they will have to give up land and combine that with the corporations from Europe, who want to bring in Europeans and people from Turkey to work on the oil rigs, and Tel Aviv will be a city with not one single person from Israel living in it. It is happening in the U.S.
5. A practical person...
mike ,   TA   (07.15.11)
A practical person would move 5-10 minutes outside of the city center and get cheaper rent... The spoiled entitled person would do what this crybaby does...
6. Housing Rents
nadya ,   CA., US   (07.15.11)
Uh-Oh! Are you boycotting the landlords who are Israeli?? I wonder what will happen to you, Court and a fine!!
7. Rent control is an answer , Here in the US the prices are al
rachel ,   usa   (07.15.11)
also ridiculous .We also need rent control . The rich have enough money !
8. Wise up
Gili ,   Tel Aviv   (07.15.11)
Oh come on get real you whining students! What major city anywhere in the western world (and even outside it) has chepa apartments for rent in its centre?? None!! Israel has moved on, Tel Aviv has moved on. Students have to work for years and struggle to have the privillege to live in these places or reinvent the next cool downtown "Williamsburg" or "Islington". Its not a God given right! Deal with it.
9. Houses prices have gone up all over Israel
Y ,   Israel   (07.15.11)
I'm talking about the Golan, not Tel Aviv. Where are young couples supposed to move if prices have gone up in the peripheries too?
10. # 8 go and take a chill pill why don't you
Talula ,   Israel   (07.15.11)
Rentals in and out of Tel Aviv have reached stratospheric proportions with greedy owners charging anything they want. Why should a family on minimal wage or indeed students have to spend what they don't have to keep a roof over their heads? I say good luck to them, it's about time someone made a stand.
11. #5 has no idea what he's talking about
Merav ,   Israel   (07.15.11)
In 2005 the rent on my extremely nice and above-market priced 2.5 on Dizengoff was $650 a month. Because of rising prices I moved "10-15 minutes out" --making my commute to work more than hour and a half each way using public transport and a lot of walking --and I'm paying $1000 for a smaller and run-down apartment. It was the cheapest thing I could find. I'm looking for a second job just to afford food above the rent, arnona and utilities. The prices have gone up in the center to criminal levels.
12. Where is student housing?
Dan ,   Rishon Lezion   (07.15.11)
The schools of higher education have not built ample student housing. They have constructed other buildings to keep their snob appeal and serve the rich. All new apartments are either 4 or 5 room flats with no building for young couples. Once again the young get shafted and greed rules.
13. I agree with Merav, No. 11.
Avi ,   Bnei Brak   (07.15.11)
Right. We Ordinary Israelis have become slaves to the free market, rather than benefiting from trickle down economics. Netanyahu was obviously affected by Rothbard and Friedman during those East Coast Years. Herzl must be so sad..after all a fair and balanced Jewish economic life with an 8 Hour Day was to be the heart of the Zionist Entity, with TA a manifestation of that. I'm suprised Bibi hasnt arranged for Rothbard to be moved on Har Herzl itself, with a comprehensive shiva national mourning, because thats where most Israelis are heading.
14. This problem stems from the 1950s
William ,   Israel   (07.15.11)
There was a time when those who owned houses in Israel refused to rent them too new immigrants. Seeing a problem the govt instituted measures to entice more inventory on the rental market - tax breaks on income, passing expenditures for local taxes on to the renters, freedom to set pricing, etc. It worked well but now this is an obsolete law and needs to be revamped. People use housing as an investment tool which warps the market and blocks many people from ownership. It's the exact opposite of the American Dream in that the middle class are kept as renters so players in the real estate market have an instant market. The real estate market has just grown in corruption since then, mostly from developers getting great deals through handshakes with politicians while delivering sub-par products.
15. #8 - so very true!
William ,   Israel   (07.15.11)
The young people (naive and full of entitlement) constantly tell the world what a great city Tel Aviv is, a big party city and very welcoming of the gay community. They tell the whole world to come to Tel Aviv. So, people came, and the basic law of economics (supply and demand) pushed prices up. Now they're upset that their world has adhered to reality rather than a Utopian view and blame landlords for basic market economics which runs the entire planet....the same economics that allows them to earn a decent living in a high-tech company which they don't seem to mind at all. Could we be heading to a youth that is as rigid and myopic as those in Greece?
16. Rent control is rather rare in the world
William ,   Israel   (07.15.11)
except in very Socialist countries. One issue with rent control is that a landlord no longer feels the need to maintain the property beyond the minimum required by law. That hurts the values of other properties and could make the city look run down. That being said - is there such a law in Israel which requires a minimum maintenance? Is there a law that dictates the allowable yearly rental increase? My guess is maybe but it, like so many other laws, are never really enforced. I feel landlords have way too much control in Israel and can resort to nasty methods of collection (helped by the police) if rent is not paid. They need to revamp the entire system.
17. Ignorance and Arrogance
Ephraim ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (07.15.11)
I see that most people here have no idea of the real situation. I am not a communist, I am from America and believe in the free market. That being said, there are many states in America that have rent control, and more importantly, in America there are many more opportunities to make money, and therefore be able to afford to pay for rent. The going equation for deciding how much someone could afford for rent was always a week's work. That is 25% of a monthly salary. I live in Jerusalem, and it is almost impossible to find an apartment for less that 4000 shekels a month. A person would need to earn 16,000 shekels a month based on that equation, which is a ridiculously high salary here. Add to that the fact that in Israel the tenant is required to pay the municipal property taxes, and rent goes up another 500 shekels a month. Moving out of the city is not so simply. If a person cannot afford a car, it is very difficult to live in a remote area. The education choices in remote areas are non-existent. If you live in the north, for example, a religious person might not be able to find a suitable school, and the same goes for a secular family, depending on the area. In Jerusalem we have enough choices to send our children to a school that suits our children's needs. In addition, the savings in rent is many times offset by the cost of travel and the lost work time because of the travel. Lastly, to the person who wrote that this young woman does not deserve an apartment in the city, there are many elitists like him. They think that the work that they did in the past entitles them to something and that the new generation needs to go through the same hard work and hardships as he did. That is BS. We all strive to build a nation so future generations can live better, just as every mother and father wants his children to live better than they did. This man who wrote that probably got his apartment a long time ago for about 500 lirot. Now that apartment cost 1 million dollars. So please shut up and let the next generation get a decent start in life. If we cannot build a nation where everyone can afford an apartment, then what's the point?
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