Bureaucracy, strike conspire to make single Mom homeless

For three weeks now, U.S.-born Kelly Jones (not her real name) and her six-month old baby have been living in a Herzliya gym to keep off the street. But the building will close down soon, possibly leaving mother and son without assistance or support from striking welfare services.

Jones immigrated to Israel 10 years ago from the States with her younger brother and mother, who died of cancer five years ago. She met her son's father 18 months ago eventually moving in with him and his parents. She says she decided to leave for good about two months ago because he was abusive and violent.

"I decided I didn't want my baby growing up like that so I moved out and stayed with some friends of my brother, but they told me to leave," she says. Jones and her son ended up living in the martial arts gym after Jones' brother - who she claims can't put her up - asked the owner and former teacher, Shay Hai, if Kelly and her son could stay there for a while.

Hai's rent contract ends July 1 but says Jones and her baby will have to find somewhere else to live in the next few weeks. The medium-size gym has no air conditioning and many windows, turning into a hothouse in summer. "In June the place usually heats up like an oven. I don't see how she could live in the gym for more than a few weeks longer," he told Anglo File.

Jones' father immigrated to Israel about a year ago, she says, but adds "he can barely help himself, let alone us." Jones asserts her efforts to obtain help from the authorities have so far been fruitless. She says the Absorption Ministry told her that as a veteran immigrant in the country over ten years she wasn't eligible for further financial assistance. She also relates she hasn't received anything from the National Insurance Institute since turning there for help three weeks ago. The NII did not respond to an inquiry on this issue.

The bureaucratic nightmare doesn't end there. Jones says social workers at Herzliya's welfare department told her they would not process her case because of their partial strike, now entering its sixth week. Social Affairs Ministry spokesman Ido Nahum told Anglo File that "she needs to contact the Housing Ministry" for a housing solution, adding his ministry "could offer her a place for the month" but for the strike. Nahum added, "She needs to contact the social workers union and apply for the urgent case committee." However, the Social Workers Union's spokesperson, David Golan, told Anglo File the union's committee would turn down her request "Even if it weren't for the strike, backlog would have meant her request wouldn't have been processed in the immediate future," he said. Golan added. "Her case, unfortunate as it is, is not urgent. Only cases with lives are at risk make it through."

In the meantime, Jones is surviving on charity from locals who have heard about her situation. "People have been very generous. Some gave me a bit of money, others gave diapers," she says, smiling. "And also a couple of men offered us a room in their homes, but I could tell they wanted more than to help."

There are happy moments despite everything, she says. "I'm getting to know my son now. Of course there's also joy just in watching him turn into a person." Still, Hai says he often sees her crying on the couch that he had put inside his gym for her. "I don't know what will happen with her," he says. "I always thought this sort of thing couldn't happen to a single mom here in Israel. I was wrong."

Jones says she never contacted the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) for help because she wasn't sure what it did. Upon learning about the case through inquiries for this article, AACI's national director of absorption services, Josie Arbel, said her organization would try to reach out to Jones and help. "We have professional counselors who know how to navigate the NII system and we have ways of solving bureaucratic problems. With Kelly Jones' permission, our counselor will connect and navigate with/through any and all systems that could assist her case. There's a good chance we can help," she said.