Israel's Housing Crisis, a Decade After Its 'Tent Revolution'

After coronavirus lockdown restrictions, some city-dwellers are leaving for homes in the countryside - AFP
After coronavirus lockdown restrictions, some city-dwellers are leaving for homes in the countryside - AFP
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Israel's Housing Crisis, a Decade After Its 'Tent Revolution'

After coronavirus lockdown restrictions, some city-dwellers are leaving for homes in the countryside - AFP
After coronavirus lockdown restrictions, some city-dwellers are leaving for homes in the countryside - AFP

Ten years since protests against the cost of living rocked Israel, affordable housing remains just as scarce, even prompting some city-dwellers to seek cheaper living on a rural kibbutz.

The 2011 "tent revolution" saw young Israelis furious at sharp rises in rents erect shelters on the upmarket Rothschild Boulevard in the heart of Tel Aviv.

Thousands of protesters soon took to the streets across Israel, shouting slogans demanding social justice.

Such widespread social upheaval had not been seen in Israel since the early 1970s, when thousands of people, led by a group called the Black Panthers, campaigned against racial discrimination suffered by Mizrahi Jews of Middle Eastern descent.

But many of the demands of the tent revolution remain a dream.

"Since then, prices have continued to increase," said Stav Shaffir, a figurehead of the 2011 protests.

"Social housing -- important in the 1960s and 1970s -- has been cut back so that almost everyone is tied to the private market," Shaffir told AFP.

The private housing market is largely unregulated in Israel.

Shaffir, who was later elected to parliament, introduced the "fair rental law", passed in 2017 to strengthen tenants' rights.

Property must now be in "good condition and the repairs are done at the expense of the owners... who can no longer evict the tenants as quickly as before," said the 35-year-old activist, who heads Israel's Green Party.

But the law has had limited impact on rent prices, which are not capped in Israel, said Danny Ben-Shahar, director of the Alrov Institute for Real Estate Research, at Tel Aviv University.

Low borrowing rates coupled with population growth -- in a country with both high birth and immigration rates -- means demand for apartments outstrips supply.

The result is a "drastic" increase in house prices, which has a knock-on impact on rents, Ben-Shahar said.

"Housing is still a major concern," he added.

The problem is especially acute in Tel Aviv.

The Mediterranean city is ranked as the fifth most expensive city in the world in The Economist magazine's latest cost-of-living report -- ahead of New York and Geneva.

"To buy a four-room apartment costs on average three million shekels ($920,0000) in Tel Aviv, and 1.7 million shekels elsewhere ($520,000)", he said.

Such costs price out all but the wealthy.

For rent, the average price of a studio in Tel Aviv is 3,300 shekels (about $1,000), double that of the northern port of Haifa, said Tal Kopel, vice president at Madlan, a leading real estate site.

In addition, property tax can add hundreds more shekels per month.

An AFP journalist who recently visited several two-room apartments in central Tel Aviv found rents of around 6,000 shekels ($1,840), including taxes.

But the dramatic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted a downward correction in rent prices.

After years on the up, prices slumped 15 percent last May, according to the Bank of Israel, although prices have since picked up again.

While demand for small apartments for singles and couples remains strong, some families are moving out.



Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented the new joint forces commander on Wednesday to troops defending the eastern frontline region of Donetsk.

Zelenskiy announced on Monday he was appointing Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov to the post, which involves strategic planning of operations, replacing Lieutenant-General Yuri Sodol who had faced criticism over serious military setbacks.

Hnatov's main tasks include "preserving as many fighters' lives as possible" while repelling the invading Russian forces, Zelenskiy said in a video address posted on social media.

One of his meetings during the trip addressed security and support for the people of the Donetsk region, including water provision, social issues and evacuation, Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskiy recorded the video address against the backdrop of a city sign of Pokrovsk, along part of the front that has seen some of the most intense fighting during Russia's 28-month-long full-scale invasion.

In the video, he expressed surprise that some relevant government officials had not visited the region in six months or more.

"There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline – in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions," Zelenskiy said. "Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv."

Zelenskiy and his army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also listened to reports from frontline positions.

Ukraine's military has found itself on the back foot this spring as Russian forces opened a new front in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in May and continued to press Ukrainian forces in other directions.