Israel Matzav

LATMA tribal update: The non-political tent city and Arab MK's circle the wagons

This week's LATMA update deals with two issues. The second issue is one with which most of you are probably familiar, namely Arab MK Hanin Zoabi's participation in the Mavi Marmara incident last year. This week, Zoabi was suspended from the Knesset for the rest of the session for assaulting an usher who tried to throw her out because she was disrupting debate over the anti-boycott law.

The first issue is about the tent cities we currently have in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv over housing prices. Watch the update and then I'll tell you a bit about that at the end.

Let's go to the videotape.



The housing protests relate to housing shortages in most of our cities. The people protesting believe that they have a right to affordable housing wherever they want it - including in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The truth is that if they cannot afford to live here they ought to move out of the city, but it is possible that they could afford to live here if the government over the last 20 years had handled the situation more wisely.

I'm not familiar with the situation in Tel Aviv (whose residents mostly seem to be over 70 and under 30-years old), but I am very familiar with the situation here in Jerusalem. There is a severe housing shortage here that derives from three factors:

1. A general dearth of construction. In the last 20 years, only two significant blocs of housing have been built in and around Jerusalem: Ramat Shlomo (which is nearly all Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) and Har Homa (which is mixed). Jerusalem's growth is stymied because the environmentalists have prevented it from expanding to the west and the 'international community' has prevented it from expanding to the east and the south (there is really no more room to expand to the north except in the northeast, where again we have issues with the 'international community.'

2. The smaller groups of apartments that are being built are luxury units that are being sold for $1 million and up, which is far beyond the reach of most Israelis, especially in Jerusalem, which is one of the country's poorest cities. They are being purchased mostly by people who live abroad.

3. There is almost no rental housing. On the other hand, many apartments in the center of the city (especially) have been purchased by foreigners who are here for two weeks out of the year (Passover and Succoth). The apartments sit empty the rest of the year, which means that the shops in those neighborhoods have been shutting down due to a lack of customers.

What should be done? What is likely to be done? One thing I would bet on happening is a stiff tax on people who own empty apartments here and possibly on all foreigners who own real estate here. They are low hanging fruit - most Israelis would be happy to see them taxed.

Second, I would give tax incentives for building RENTAL housing - housing that can only be rented and not sold for a period of 20-30 years.

Third, I would encourage those who cannot afford to do buy in the major cities to move out.

Fourth, I would build like crazy in the areas of Judea and Samaria that are essentially suburbs of Jerusalem, and massively increase public transportation to those areas.

Labels: Hanin Zoabi, housing crisis, LATMA

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:56 PM