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NEWS
Economic Affairs Committee Chairman Tours `Storeroom Apartments' in
Jerusalem
By M. Green
United Torah Judaism Chairman Rabbi Menachem Eliezer Mozes, who also
serves as chairman of the housing crisis lobby, initiated a
comprehensive tour of underground housing sites occupied by young
couples in Jerusalem. The tour included Bayit Vegan and the city's
northern neighborhoods.
The tour was joined by Economic Affairs Committee Chairman MK Carmel
Shama and MK Yaakov Katz, who honored Rabbi Mozes' request to
accompany him and see for themselves the untenable conditions in which
young couples are forced to live due to the apartment shortage.
"I wanted to carry out the verse, `Tov marei einayim' [Koheles
6:9, `Better is the seeing of the eyes']," said Rabbi Mozes, "and it's
very important to me that the Economic Affairs Committee, which is
supposed to deliberate housing and mortgage laws, saw for itself and
be shocked. Young couples with one or two children are living
underground in apartments of less than 25 square meters [270 square
feet] with no daylight and no fresh air, connected to an improvised
electrical system that endangers their lives.
"The Government and the Knesset must make the housing issue a national
goal and solve the terrible crisis," he said during the tour. "I
invite the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to come and get a
sense of the crisis. I'm confident that the economic policy on the
housing issue would change immediately."
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