A small sink tells a big story: a report from Beit Shean ›

The sink before the repair

Rabbi Kobbi Weis shows us how the public housing company goes about repairing a sink in one of the public housing apartments in Beit Shean.

In the last week Mr. Ariel Atias, the Housing Minister talked about the poor situation of the public housing apartments. We say to him, “good morning”, and ask, are all the problems because the Finance Ministry does not give enough money? No doubt that it is an important factor, but the misuse of the the money that is transferred to the public housing companies is also a part of the story.

As the sages say “It is better to see” and I would like to introduce to you a small repair that was done in an apartment in Beit Shean. As a result of a leak in the staircase of a building, the people of Amidar came to deal with the problem. In an attempt to locate where the leak came from, the worker removed the tiles over the sink, when he found no leak there, he closed it.

After - sloppy work

I would like you to look at the pictures from before and after the repair. And we ask, who in Israel would agree to such sloppy work? There is no need to say that after our involvement the sink was repaired to the satisfaction of the tenants. What would have happened had we not been involved? It is true that it is a small thing and there was no threat to life, but the disrespect for the tenants is unbelievable.

If we take this small repair and multiply it with all the repairs that are done in Amidar’s apartments, you will understand why every apartment that is handed over to a new tenant needs repairing that cost tens of thousands NIS. Here there is a combination of the company’s money shortage and their preference of and connections with certain constructors over price and quality. The public housing companies’ attitude is not a fair and just way to treat the tenants. In the end we will ask, are the public housing companies treating this small sink in the same way?