Mayor tells 'ghost' Jerusalem residents: Rent out or sell up

Social injustice is not the question AT ALL, these people BOUGHT these apartments legally. Some are Christian (like Dorian) others are Jewish, and I am sure some are Moslem. This is real estate. If you want it, take out a mortgage and buy it, then its yours.... end of story.

Is it Lenin Brand whacky tobaccy? Are you guzzling 1817 Russian vodka? Take their apartments and give them away? Are you nuts? Why on earth would ANYONE buy or build in Israel again if they risk the rules magically changing and their investments ceased? The fact is Barkat is encouraging them to spend more time at their Jeruslaem homes to increase revenue and ease the crunch, and consider living their full time. But still there is no crisis Have you been to Jerusalem? This isn't Mumbai or some Chinese mega city. It's got room to grow or people can easily commute..Cease their houses? What a maroon.

Why not introduce national laws whereby you must rent the property for a minimum number of months in a year or at the very least have it avalible for rent. If after 5-10 years your leaving the property empty beyond the minimum number of months then the municipality has the option of ordering you to sell the place The number of months that the property must be rented for is also something that should be the flexible based on the needs of the town or city. A city like Jerusalem has a real shortage of affordable housing so they should have a higher threshold than towns like Netanya & Herzliya most of whose income comes from tourism and tourists & don't have there isnt a major shortage of affordable housing. These laws should also only apply to what would be considered affordable property. A $500,000 duplex ordinary people can't afford to rent anyway should be exempt. Locals needs must be put first but both sides win, property owner from rent tenant has an affordable place to live.

That would be a responsible policy for all. If he wants to be the mayor, he should be the mayor of all.

What you say is totally true, but staying in a hotel is not the same as staying in your own home, inviting friends for drinks is it? Yes I would get an income, but I could acquire another apartment to do that to subsidise my first apartment and raising the funds for the extra taxes that would be levied. My home in Jerusalem would still be empty most of the year apart from Easter and the Summer when I want somewhere warm to stay. What is needed is more affordable housing for the indigenous population, where they can strike down roots, raise families become part of a community. Renting from me would not do that.

Ghost tenant don't merely destroy neighborhoods, invite thieves and deprive small businesses of their livelihood. They also jack up the cost of real estate so that Jerusalem has become unaffordable for working people, with its prime central neighborhoods increasingly dark year round except when the showoffs arrive to party on Sukkot and Passover. The blame falls squarely on City Hall which has no zoning policies that assure development for any but the very wealthy. The only solution is a punitive tax on homes that are not occupied,say, for at least 1/3 of the year. A non-resident tax of 10-15% of the property;'s value could then be placed in a fund to build affordable rentals for the people this city needs most -- young, ambitious, and - above all – working. Anything less will result in what is already happening, a city of unemployed haredim and absentee owners.

If your renting your apartment either long or medium term if you want to come to Israel for a short vacation then the money your getting in rent will easily pay for you to stay in a hotel possibly even your airfare as well depending on what your getting in rental. My own parents they originally were thinking about how it would be nice to have a holiday apartment in Tel Aviv so they can have somewhere to stay and have said they might like to retire in Israel when the time comes. After looking at property prices they decided that if they can find somewhere then they will rent it, the earn money from it all year round and the rental will pay for them to stay in hotels if they want to come for a couple of weeks. Its much more practical for the owner to rent out to locals all year round and use rental money to stay in hotels when they want to come to Israel and at the same time they are providing housing for locals its an all win situation for both sides.

No one should be allowed to tell another person what they can or cannot do with their property -- however, in order to support the community an absentee tax could be levied. I doubt the owners would have a problem with this, and the community would reap the benefit of these additional funds. Israel really needs a constitution, it really bothers me that the government can just make up stuff as they go along, often passing it off as law!

The wealthy Americans that I know that keep an apartment in Jerusalem do so out of the purest love for the state of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. It would be great if the owners of these apartments could use the inticement of a cheap place to stay as a way of encouraging American Jews on a budget to visit Israel, perhaps through a coordinating agency.

Dorian, Jerusalem is not some south sea island that you just bought in. It's a city with people in it that live there. You have every right to buy here. And the city has every right to demand anything they want from the people who live there. The residents of this city who vote do indeed have you by the tail. If you don't like it, become a resident and vote!

It's interesting that you want penalties on them. Most cities would be more than happy to have people who pay their taxes but never show up to use domestic services. People like that are pure profit to a city.

I was just thinking the same thing. Here in Georgia people go to the Panhandle in Florida or really anywhere in Florida, North or South Carolina (i.e. Hilton Head) and rent Condos for the week. During the spring and summer everything on the beach is rented by tourists. It's hard to get a place if you don't book well in advance. There are all kinds of companies you can book though or owners that advertise on the web to deal with, They cost more than a hotel but you make up for it on meals, because everything is provided for(dishes, cookware etc,)so you can eat at the condo instead of eating out all the time. Great idea!!

The problem is a lack of affordable homes for the indigenous population of Jerusalem, be they Moslem, Christian or Jew. What is required are high density, low cost housing enabling people to live and work in Jerusalem. Two week rental contracts does not fulfill that need. We have the same problem in many areas of the UK where second home owners have priced the locals out of the market and as they are only there at the weekend, all the service industries have been badly hit.

How lovely that would be for a change, to our friendly relationship.

Subsidized renting of virtual inhabitants' apartments to "Hilltop Youth" could be a constructive social action! These energetic but misguided, semi-juvenile delinquents could then be usefully employed to work on civic projects in greater Jerusalem. They could attend vocational training classes and eventually become productive citizens. All they need is a place to stay - and there are thousands of places available!

Jerusalem real estate has become a manipulative and speculative bonanza for affluent and greedy absentee overseas landlords who sit on empty apartments waiting for the property prices to inflate. This is a non productive and negative element for the city's economy. Our Mayor is 100 per cent correct. It is forcing young would be buyers out of the city. You do not have to be blind to observe that Jerusalem is becoming a city for the aged accompanied by many disabled in walkers, wheelchairs and Filipino aides. There should be a two tiered of anona (property tax) payments one for local residents and a punitive rate for non-resident landlords plus a capital gains tax when they sell their property. This additional revenue should be used to overcome the various infrastructure problems the city faces and to improve the quality of life for the long suffering residents.

This appears to be another example of Barkat saying things that have not been properly thought out, similar to his rant about scrapping the tramway project and dismantling the Calatrava bridge. In fact, the occasional residents are doing an already overcrowded city a service by not contributing to the perpetual traffic jams and adding litter that the municipality is already unable to deal with properly. At the same time, they pay full municipal taxes (unlike many permanent residents in the impoverished Haredi and welfare sectors of Jerusalem society). They also make a significant contribution to the thriving construction and real-estate business. The idea that people who keep apartments here for visits during holidays or occasional use should rent them out is totally impractical in most cases, for the reasons that other readers have noted already. It is time for Nir Barkat to start thinking before he presents unworkable ideas, despite their momentary populist appeal.

The city needs to require a % of new apartemnts for affordable housing and allow taller structures- along with job creation

that make Jerusalem unattractive, and drive out nornative families... it's the general atmosphere of rampaging Haredim... and the greater-Israel fanatics who are taking over East Jerusalem and creating a bad atmosphere, which emanates into the whole city... veteran diehard Jerusalemites maight stick-it-out, but their children will leave for elsewhere... so you'll end up with slowly disappearing vatikim, and students who come and go... genuine lovers of Jerusalem will always come to visit, but are reluctant to remain in the current milieu...

The concept of private property is a strong issue with Americans in general. The bloggers here claiming to be from America and agreeing with this nonsense are most likely not Americans. Who the hell is the matyor to tell an owner that they have to rent out their property. The city can legislate an Enforecement code to maintain the proeprty but the owner should eb able to do what they wish with their proeprty. Period. I wonder if the property is owned by absent Arabs , treated the same way ???????

The solution here should be the same like in Barcelona. the mayor of Barcelona gave tax incentives to home owners which would rent their apartment short term to tourists when they are not there. Barcelona became the world's leader in holiday apartment's rentals. We gave our apartment in Tel Aviv to be managed by www.home4trip.com and they bring us clients every month + keeping the apartment for us when we want to come over.

when the owner decides he wants to spend a couple of weeks in Jerusalem to attend a wedding for instance? Is the state going to set up hostels so those who rent the property can have a roof over their heads for a couple of weeks. This is indicative of Israeli policy in Jerusalem. There isn't one

As long as I pay my taxes, I shoudl be allowed to live, or not to live in my J'lem apartment It is nobody's business where i live and being demonised by the Mayor is not going to help

All I am saying is that having purchased a property in Jerusalem perfectly legally, what I do with it is my business if the Mayor of jerusalem changes the law retrospectively I will raise merry hell. In fact I am thinking of buying another apartment just because I can and boarding it up.

A high tax will force people to rent or sell their appartments.

Jerusalem should have a law stating that if you dont live in the city year round you can only own times shares in complexes... this would fix the problem...

Limiting access tp building is the primary reason of sky high prices. Now so typical of civil servants,blaim their own faults on someone else. Once we are at it, lets' force rich people to give rooms in their houses to poor. Then we will end with Soviet paradise of Comunalka. Sickening.

I found your rant amusing in that high hotel rents occur in Jerusalem mainly on Jewish holidays. How frequently do Christmas and Easter coincide with Chanukkah and Passover? Not too frequently, I assure you. So your complaint about Israel being anti-Christian is worthless. When Jordan held the city of Jerusalem, both Jews and Christians were denied access to their holy places, but did you complain about that. And have you ever tried to buy a home or apartment in Saudi Arabia and come tghere with your bible and, possibly, wearing a crucifix?

In a rational world, how can vacant absentee Jewish owned apartments make sense while Arabs are displaced from Jerusalem? Just another example of self-centered application of religion rather than helping those least able to help themselves. Is this what our heritage is about?

in Jerusalem. What happens when I want to visit for a weekend to celebrate Easter for instance. I brought my apartment so I didn't have to pay the extortionate hotel charges on the holy days. And if you try to take it off me I will raise merry hell and ensure that I am compensated using the monies the US taxpayer sends to Israel each year. Not to mention going on all the talk shows declaring Israel is ethnically cleansing Jerusalem of Christians

Barkat is right that apartmnlents bought by tourists are runing the city. The owners do pay municipal taxes, but that doesn't make for a healthy, thriving city. Businesses aren't patroniuzed most of the year, schools are underpopulated and cultural institutions are under-attended, all of which has a ripple effect on employment and population. Worse yet, tourist homewowners are making the cost of homes out of the range of the middle class that keeps the city econoically alive. In south Jerusalem, no one is building ordinary middle class housing. Barkat's mistake is to think that tourists will, of all things, rent their multi-million-dollar homes, with their luxury accoutrements and expensive art, to students. The solution is to use zoning to limit the construction of luxury housing. But who would dare defy the interests of the developers?

Poor policy planning! The city, and the country, needs affordable housing policies and a broader view of the issue. Even with these 'ghost' apartments rented out, the solution is short-term and fails to address the broader social policy issues related to affordale housing either for rent or sale.

Ironic, and sad. Millions of palestinians people suffering and asking to have a place to live, and those people, rich people, who only use their house for vacation and that are always ready to stop any peace process, are waiting just a few month to spend here in Jerusalem, Is it not clear to all of us that this is horrible...

I wonder if barakat has done his math? Does he not realise that the greatest proportion of these ghosts are actually haredi? Does he expect to threaten them with fears that the city will become haredi and Arab? That's just what they want. Moreover his suggestion to absentee owners to rent out their apartments to students - of all things - is ridiculous. Imagine a - usually - elderly couple dealing with students, and israeli students to boot, from abroad, or relying on an agency, an israeli agency at that, to manage their affairs. Imagine them arriving for a few weeks holiday or for the festivals after a gruelling flight to find the apartment trashed by the students, or some refusing to leave. Perhaps Barakat should just get real and leave well alone.

i am sure this appeal will show good results from all jews.it makes sense.

Make the (housing) pie bigger, rather than trying to divide up a small pie. The "ghost residents" bring more benefit than detriment. The real answer is simply to enable more housing construction in Jerusalem for middle class and upper class residents (together with employment opportunities that will attract them to Jerusalem). Build skyscrappers everywhere; end the requirement of Jerusalem stone exteriors for tall buildings (the stone requirement was only a reaction to impoverished stucco construction of the 1950s and not to prevent glass or steel buildings); permit existing buildings to be expanded or replaced without the need to deal with incompetent or corrupt city civil servants in order to get building permits. Most importantly, cultural diversity must be maintained in the City, even if it requires quotas or culture designated neighborhoods. Otherwise, the city will be haredi (for better or for worse) within a few short years.

most buy high end apartments which the average person can not rent, let alone students

Okay, instead of leaving the flats empty for upscale Hutzkinkim to slum about in Jerusalem, they rent them to Haredim who either work in Hi-Tech, or otherwise learn in some Kollel. Many of the owners are garden variety Shomrey Mitzvot with ties to Yeshivot in the capital so a "whisper" becomes a shout, and, considering that the owners might even hand the flats over to their Shomrey Mitzvot children, or, perhaps the children of their friends who may well be able to afford the rent. That means even more Religiously Observant Jews in the City. What a great gevalt that would create among the Ultra-Secularists of the the city. Mind you, if they are better "fixed" financially, it will raise the average income of the people who live in the city some. What's wrong with that?

from East Jerusalem some of whom are currently living in the streets. It's really cold out there. The Jerusalem Municipality has connived to produce this crisis, unfortunately. They made Jerusalem uninhabitable, partly by building and marketing many too many luxury apartments that no-one normal could afford to rent in anyway.

You may find that many of the ghost residents are real estate investors or their family and friends.

Mr. Mayor, In your recent article in Haaretz you are encouraging absentee owners to rent out their apartments when out of the country. It's a nice thought but totally impractical. What is needed in Jerusalem and throughout the country are incentives to allow investors to build rental housing. Some subsidized others not. As absentee owners they save the city money by not sending their children to already overcroweded schools and clogging already overcrowded streets and parking spots. They pay top shequel in arnona and get very little back.. They have and are making sizable investments in their properties which helps employment in the housing sector. Rather than demonizing them you should consider other options such as investment housing which I mentioned earlier. There are many people who would invest in this area if they could get reasonable return and write off on their mortgage investment and othe costs associated with running housing for rent. Please consider th

The city needs to facilitate all rental of units in all parts of the city.

one solution is to make all new properties have a certain percentage (maybe 60%) for residents of israel only. At least then new buildings won't feel empty and maybe builders will start building affordable housing and not just expensive ones aiming for the foreign rich tourist.

not so uncommon elsewhere to see tax incentives for residents or as some see them tax penalaties/consequences for non-resident owners often times resulting in property taxes exponentially greater than those paid by resident owners. non-resident Israelis who own in many U.S. states know this well. perhaps this combined with an incentive tax break for owners who rent out to students or couples under 35. make the hit large enough to encourage thought and the discount substantial enough to close the deal.

YES!!! Finally we have a major that cares for the people and the City!!!! Keep up the good job!!! May God bless you and give you wisdom to do great things in the City of Jerusalem!!!!

at long last someone is speaking about this problem of the ghost neighborhoods in jerusalem. it is weakening the secular jewish presence in the city and making some of the nicest parts of the city unliveable. i have serious doubts that these wealthy people living abroad are going to rent out their places to students and some other measures would be required to get these places back into the housing market. in the final analysis the issue here is whether Israel can sustain a living and vibrant jewish presence in jerusalem - nothing more and nothing less.