'Make sure Sde Dov real estate includes affordable housing'

Stav Shafir: government should ensure that whatever mass real estate project is built will include at least 20 percent attainable housing.

By BEN HARTMAN
daphne leef stav shafir 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
daphne leef stav shafir 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
The government should ensure that whatever mass real estate project is built on the site of Dov Hoz Airport in north Tel Aviv will include at least 20 percent attainable housing, one of the leaders of the past Summer’s “social justice” movement said Sunday.
Stav Shafir, one of the main protesters identified with the movement, called on the Israeli government to “adopt the same path adopted in other countries across the world, to make sure that every new major real estate project includes attainable housing.”
Shafir added she is “amazed that after everything that has happened this past year, the government is still encouraging the construction of luxury neighborhoods, without the possibility of attainable housing.”
Shafir’s comments came a few hours after the cabinet approved the formulation of a team headed by Prime Minister’s Office Director-General Harel Locker, to plan the evacuation of the airport. The airport currently sits on some 1,300 dunams (130 Hectares) of prime real estate on the coastline between north Tel Aviv and Herzliyah.
Around 800 dunams of the area are currently designated for military use, and one of the team’s main responsibilities will be determining where the military air traffic and other operational necessities will be re-routed after the evacuation.
The evacuation will make way for the construction of an estimated 12,000 housing units on the plot of land, as well as hotels, commercial businesses, and some public areas.
Most of the area that will be freed-up for construction is currently owned by private Israeli citizens, who stand to make a fortune from selling the land.