Rabbi Moses
Rabbi MosesFlash 90

United Torah Judaism head Rabbi Menachem Eliezer Moses called on the Treasury to aid young couples with low incomes in buying apartments.

"I call on the Treasury to allow couples to purchase affordable apartments and to subsidize the cost of mortgages." Rabbi Moses said.

According to Rabbi Moses, many homeless people would be included in the list of buyers of apartments, but unfortunately, they cannot fulfill their dreams of owning an apartment because of the high monthly mortgage payments.

"[Even] young couples who go to the periphery" cannot escape the high prices, Rabbu Moses said. "They go to the bank for a mortgage and are required to produce a paycheck of 14,000 shekels ($3,680). We are talking about homeless couples, a disadvantaged population who are forced to move to the periphery because they do not have a high enough income [to live in the center of the country]. From where can they show the bank an income of that magnitude?"

He accused the government of encouraging the purchase of homes while making it impossible for the very people they are trying to help.

Rabbi Moses said that the Finance and Housing Ministries draw many fiscal agreements with municipal authorities of 100,000 shekels ($26,300) apiece for tens of thousands of housing units, and that they also subsidize the construction of the housing units. But they still do not help young couples buy housing. "It is better to divert these huge sums of money to subsidize the cost of mortgages for the underprivileged."