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The housing issue is the most important issue on the civil agenda in Israel. The increase in housing and rental prices over the past year has eroded the capacity for a growing portion of the population to bear the burden of housing costs and find suitable or stable homes, either through renting or buying. This process has far-reaching consequences on individual, municipal, and national levels.
Ahead of the elections on November 1, 2022, the Hagar Israel Affordable Housing Center at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law, ACRI, Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, and Merhav – Movement for Israeli Urbanism, submitted a document of proposals to candidates on operative measures for the creation of affordable housing. The organizations proposed the adoption of such measures as part of the candidates’ platform and work plans for the 2022 elections.
The organizations emphasized that there is no single "magic solution" to the housing crisis, and that a diverse set of tools is needed to meet the housing needs of the population in Israel. Their recommendations relate to three tools that are missing or must be updated as part of the existing government housing policy: developing a significant market for affordable housing in Israel; creating models of co-ownership as an alternative to purchasing and renting for low-income earners, and improving mechanisms of urban renewal.