In the Media

The summer protests in Israel started with one woman who set up a tent to protest her inability to find affordable housing, and soon there were 90 tent cities, thousands of people strong, covering the face of Israel. Most of the tents were dismantled as the school year began and students and families went back to their regular routine.  The tent encampment in Gan Sacher, a large municipal park in Jerusalem, was different. This tent city comprised of people who did not have homes to return to. These people simply could not afford to pay the high Jerusalem rents; 16 families remained. 

The families in Gan Sacher represent the growing segment of the population called the “working poor”. Almost 50% of the people living under the poverty line in Israel have at least one working adult. Wages have not kept pace with the cost of living, and thus a family of four is under the poverty line with an income of 6,100 NIS. Minimum wage is 4,100 NIS and all too many families find themselves with only part time employment as the labor market changes and employment opportunities for those with limited education contracts. 

Most of the families in Gan Sacher work.  For example, three of the men woke up at 3:00 am every day to go to work, because they drive garbage trucks. One woman works at the post office on the night shift, and so left her children with friends every evening. One woman is a secretary in a law office.  One of the men is unemployed after a work related accident. Another woman works shifts in a clothing store. These are families who never thought that they would be dependant, and certainly not homeless. 

Community Advocacy has been working with the families intensively. We have helped them organize wide media coverage, meetings with the mayor and other municipal officials, hearings in Knesset committees and meetings with the Deputy Director General of the Housing Ministry.  In January, when the municipality threatened to evict them from the tents- from the public park to nowhere- we went to court. The judge did not allow the immediate eviction, and set a court date for seven weeks later to enable the authorities to come up with a solution.  The families remained in the tents in the cold, rain and snow of the Jerusalem winter. 

On March 12^th, the families took down their tents. The municipality has given each family a rental subsidy for 6 months, the housing ministry has given them an additional subsidy for a year, and a group of Jerusalem businessmen and women have donated funds to guarantee full rental payments for a year.  At the ceremony we held with the dismantling of the tents, attended by Knesset Members Dov Hanin and Daniel Ben Simon, and municipal council members Pepe Allalo and Laura Verter, the residents of Gan Sacher made two important statements:

1.While they appreciate the donations and the help they have been given, this is not good housing policy. People should not have to rent apartments because kind hearted people help. The fact that the government and municipal help is time limited is frightening to them. Without a change in housing regulations, they fear they will find themselves in the park again in a year’s time.

2.They are setting up a new tent – only a protest tent – which will remain standing until policy is changed. They expect our help and support. Together we are working to change the criteria for public housing, guarantee rental subsidies that are realistic and guarantee that more public housing is built.

On a sad note, and perhaps explaining the impetus for the municipality’s actions, as we sat in a circle on the grass where the makeshift tents had been, the municipality was busy setting up giant tents in preparation for the Jerusalem marathon, which took place three days later- beginning in Gan Sacher.To read "Where has public housing gone?" in the Jerusalem Report, written by Ziv Hellman, please visit: http://www.jpost.com/JerusalemReport/Israel/Article.aspx?id=259314