Jan 23, 2018

Israel’s Largest-Ever Housing Project for Senior Citizens Breaks Ground

Holocaust survivors, immigrants and elderly individuals eligible for housing assistance in Israel will soon have a new place to call home. Your donations to the Annual Federation Campaign help support this effort. Built by Federation’s overseas partner, The Jewish Agency for Israel, via Amigour, its public housing subsidiary, the venture is the largest housing project for senior citizens ever constructed in Israel. The Ministry of Construction and Housing, along with Jewish communities around the world are helping finance the effort, which will build 471 apartments in Ashkelon.

The project will consist of three 20-story buildings and include a senior citizens’ club, where residents will enjoy extensive activities, classes, holiday celebrations, field trips, cultural performances and so on. Landscaped public spaces, a communal garden and a community playground will enhance the complex.

Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky said, “This is an important step toward addressing the housing crisis among Israel’s immigrant and elderly populations. The world’s Jewish communities have recognized this as a major societal challenge in Israel and have mobilized to help the country advance solutions on a far broader scale than anything seen before.”

It is expected that individuals and couples currently residing in larger apartments as part of the public housing program will choose to move to the new buildings, vacating their current apartments and making them available to young families currently awaiting public housing solutions. In total, 2,650 public housing units will be constructed across the country on land owned by The Jewish Agency in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Herzliya, Be’er Sheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Netanya, Rehovot, Lod, Bat Yam, and elsewhere.

To learn more about our overseas partners, click here. To make a donation to support the Annual Campaign, click here.