Homeless numbers grow fast in Tel Aviv

There are now some 750 homeless people wandering the streets of Tel Aviv, 13 percent of whom are women.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
homeless 88 224 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
homeless 88 224
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The number of homeless people in Tel Aviv has risen sharply from 530 at the beginning of 2007 to 750 now, reports www.mynet.co.il. And some social workers are blaming skyrocketing rental and property prices for the increase, saying that many people have been forced out of their homes after being unable to meet their payments. According to the report, 530 homeless people were wandering Tel Aviv's streets at the beginning of 2007. During the year, 110 newly homeless people joined them, and in the first eight months of 2008, a further 110 newly homeless people found their way onto the streets, for a total of 750 homeless people. The report said that 13 percent of the homeless are women, a percentage that is among the highest in the world. Municipal social worker Osnat Cohen said that many of the newly homeless were young couples who were evicted from their homes after being unable to meet their rental payments or who were forced into bankruptcy because of debts. She said the number of homeless people from former Soviet countries had fallen and now stood at 65% of all the homeless people in the city. She added that there were virtually no Ethiopian immigrants among the homeless because when they fell into difficulties they were taken into the homes of their extended families. But Dr. Benny Avrahami, the head of the addictions branch in the city's Social Services Department, said the effect of rising property prices on homeless numbers was marginal. He said homeless people generally had "personal problems" and were unable to adjust to society, and many of them were addicted to drugs or alcohol. Avrahami said the city tried to help the homeless rehabilitate their lives as much as possible, but only some of them were willing to accept the help offered. The report pointed out that seven homeless people have died in Tel Aviv's streets this year, four of them from overdoses of alcohol or drugs, and the remaining three as victims of violence.