We went through some old neighborhoods in Haifa, to see if the houses are maintained satisfactorily, or maybe they are even on the verge of collapse. Spoiler: there are places for which you should consider building and contents insurance, and one hour before...
Can this happen to us too?
The collapse of the building that occurred a few weeks ago in Holon caused many to ask themselves if this could also happen to them, it seems that the thought has crossed everyone's mind since then, the fact is that since then there have already been several evictions of houses in Haifa and the surrounding area, following complaints from tenants about displacement or cracks in the structure Many wonder what could bring a building to the point of collapse. The answer to this is that, usually, it is a combination of several factors.
The first factor is, when erecting the structure, someone wanted to save money and did not use the amount of iron and cement required for the building to be stable. Decades can pass and nothing happens, it is also possible that no damage will ever occur, but to the same extent, it is possible that a building will not be stable and will start to sink or get an angle in one of the directions. Many times after a building collapses, you find out in retrospect that this was the reason for it.
Proximity to the sea
In addition, older buildings tend to be more neglected, and are not always properly maintained. Many of the unstable buildings are found in cities close to the sea: the proximity to the sea brings with it a lot of humidity, which is not good for the foundations of the building. Even in such a case, many years can pass without any damage, but it is enough that one iron ceases to withstand the load, and we may find ourselves at the door of a disaster.
For the most part, in the established neighborhoods, in every building there is a house committee and there are tenants who are awake and involved in what is happening in the building, and when any defect is discovered, there will be someone who will take care of it and fix it. The committee will invite the municipality and the contractor, and it is likely that the problem will be solved. In disadvantaged neighborhoods it seems that there is a higher chance of untreated damages. The buildings are older and may have been built sparingly, and when early signs are discovered, it is not certain that there will be anyone who will notice and know and act. If it is because the tenants are elderly people who don't often leave the house, or hard-working people who don't evacuate and aren't aware of it, but we note that this is only a rough generalization, since the building in Holon, for example, was not in a disadvantaged neighborhood, so these generalizations are not necessarily justified in the neighborhood either From a medium socio-economic status, a building can stand one day and the next day simply be erased.
It costs us more
One more thing, the insurance companies are not non-profit, they exist for profit. People can for years pay insurance on the structure and contents, and at the moment of truth they may receive a cold shoulder from the insurance company. The insurance companies have quite a few "small letters" in the policy, for example, that they Exemptions from payment in the event of a natural disaster or war, or any other unusual event, and then people find themselves depending on the state to decide whether to bear the cost of the damage or not. ) and the state did take responsibility then, it is important to understand that in such cases not all the damage is paid. For example, if you have property that is not new, the state will compensate you according to its value, but you will probably buy a new one, which will probably cost more. Not to mention that the state pays for some things and some not. In short, those who behave honestly with the state, have a good chance of finding themselves with another mortgage, probably most of us.
Shaar Aliya neighborhood
In recent weeks, residents contacted the Hai Pa system, and reported severe neglect on Hinanit Street, where the Hufit school is also located, and in other houses in the vicinity. I took pictures of the houses, which look from the outside in very mediocre condition. Everything is peeling, although the entrance gardens to the buildings actually look reasonable. In any case, there is no doubt that it would have been worthwhile for these streets to undergo a serious facelift.
What I don't understand the most is that these buildings are a short walk from the sea, and what more could you ask for than hearing the waves in the morning from your bed? The gap between this bonus and the street view is almost impossible to contain.
The explanation for this lies in the name of the neighborhood. When the state was established and large waves of immigrants arrived in Israel, the houses were built in order to accommodate the many new immigrants, therefore - the "gate of immigration".
"knock on tables"
Eli Amir's latest book describes the transition, in which the new immigrants began their stay in the Land of Israel, and those who remained in Haifa, moved to one of the coastal neighborhoods. The neighborhood really seems suitable for new immigrants, who have not yet learned to "knock on tables" and demand more. Many tall buildings and within them normative families, alongside difficult cases. It is not uncommon to sit in your apartment and hear shouts from the apartment below or above, it is not uncommon that there is no house board and there is no light in the stairwell. This of course does not mean that the building may collapse, but it does show the neglect.
Neve David neighborhood
First of all, Neve David is a neighborhood that has been waiting for urban renewal for 20 years. When the day comes, the residents will live in high-rises, in new apartments a short distance from the sea. At 18:00 they went out to the balconies and drank the sunset coffee... It takes so many years that it is no longer clear if they are the ones who will drink this coffee, or their heirs, but one of them will probably get to do it.
The new neighbor - Ramat Hanasi
I was also a real estate reporter when the neighborhood adjacent to Neve David was built - Ramat Hanasi. I thought then that it would not be a successful neighborhood, but I was very wrong.
I still remember how the new residents on Ramat Hanasi wanted to build a fence so they couldn't see the old houses of Neve David. Ramat Hanasi is an example of everything that can be in the Neve David neighborhood and not in many years. They already have strong anchors for schools - Hofit and the new S.M.A. .
Meanwhile, the houses in Neve David look like the most neglected thing imaginable.
how is it possible?
I worked for a year in Neve David and I would sometimes go from work to Shufersal on the President's level, looking around me, shocked every time anew by the unfathomable neglect. I found myself asking again and again, is it real that this is what a house in Haifa looks like... I think that we, as residents of the city, are obligated to help those whose houses are neglected in such an extreme way, even if we use city money to upgrade a private house.
All this does not mean that the houses are on the verge of collapse. They are very old, very neglected, do not make you want to go inside, but are the foundations strong or not? There is no telling. Anyway, if a house that looks like this collapses, it won't be a huge surprise. We can ask ourselves how this didn't happen before, and where were we when people lived in broken and neglected houses a meter away from us.
What will come first?
In the Neve David neighborhood, as in many underprivileged neighborhoods, live quite a few young people who believe in the neighborhood's potential. One of them grew up in the neighborhood as a child and returned to it with the family she started. Mayor Einat Kalish Rotem's number two in the previous elections, Tali Meshulam Itach, which serves as an address for many residents and helps a lot. It is still far from what is happening in Bat Galim and Hadar, but it is a start. The new construction in the neighborhood, the proximity to the coastal road, the good air and the nearby sea, may bring many young people here when new construction begins. The question is what will happen first - an old building will collapse or urban renewal...
The lower city
The Lower City is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Haifa, if not the oldest (the competition is between it and Ein Hayam), and there are housing units from 100 years ago or more. There are houses on which the years are clearly visible, next to them new construction, which was built while maintaining the aesthetic style of the old construction, on purpose.
The downtown underwent a facelift at a cost of many millions and turned from the neglected and dark backyard of the city into an attractive recreation place for Haifa residents and people outside of Haifa. In terms of transportation, there is a Carmelit that connects the lower city to Hadar and the center of Carmel. There is the train station, which connects the downtown to the rest of the country, metro and buses, and despite all these, the people of Haifa do not trust the Chabat and for them there is a huge parking lot - some paid and some free, on Hanamal Street.
We were like dreamers
This success is mainly signed by two people: the previous mayor Yona Yahav and Tzachi Tarno. If in the past, as a Haifaite, I would only come to the lower city on Yom Kippur to buy video cassettes from the sailors on Jaffa Street or Ha-Aztuma Street, today anyone who leaves home looking for a good restaurant or pub will be torn between the Moriah road and the lower city. We were like dreamers.
The highlight of the lower city, without a doubt, is the Turkish market. There used to be performances there, when the municipality still offered amusements and entertainment, and the whole Turkish market was filled with happy people.
Today there are no more amusements, but the Turkish market is still an example of what can be achieved with vision, money and more employees who are real Haifa people, and not consultants imported from Tel Aviv, apparently.
new and old
In the lower city, the tradition of the stair race also began, which took place every year after Passover. 1000 stairs or 1500, for those who add the 20 floors of the Panorama Hotel (someone once asked me on the 20th floor, how do you build such a hotel without elevators) and 3 km from the lower city, the lowest point in the city to the highest point.
Students from schools, elderly people, people from outside Haifa and from within Haifa, everyone ran together and enjoyed the city. Unfortunately, this is also history.
The houses in the lower city are very old, with most of them built before the establishment of the state. Both the lower city and Wadi Salib were built before 1948. During the war of liberation, Arab residents fled from Haifa and left behind empty apartments. It was very convenient for the Holocaust survivors, who arrived in the new country and entered the prepared apartments.
New neighborhoods on the ridge
Over the years, those who succeeded advanced to an apartment (and this time for a fee) in the Hadar neighborhood, which in the 60s was the hottest thing in the city, and in the 70s many residents advanced to Neve Shanan. In the 80s, the Panorama Center was built, followed by the Horev Center and other neighborhoods sprung up on the ridge.
Are the old houses in the lower city in danger of collapse? Only if there is an appeal to the municipality and complaints from tenants will we be able to know, a moment before, the level of stability of the houses. Meanwhile, when you look from the outside, the houses appear to be in better condition than those in Neve David, the slopes of Neve Shaanan, Shaar Aliya and parts of Mashprintzak. But as I remember, it only takes one iron to stop holding the tension, for a building to fall...
Kiryat Haim, Shaprintak, Eliezer and more, must make the biggest evacuation in the history of the country
And what about Kiryat Eliezer? The houses are very old, cracked, and most of them have sunk, they made a new neighborhood in the middle, and everything around is old and neglected, for years there has been talk of eviction, and nothing has moved.
If the train is going to add two tracks, fences and 5-meter-high pillars every few meters along the entire track, this will directly affect the feasibility of building evacuation and the demand to live in streets like Yoav and Avner or in Bat Galim in streets close to the tracks. I don't understand why the municipality is not fighting the subsidence. Do not approve any electrification until sedimentation or tunneling work begins through the mountain.
It's clear that won't happen. It is clear that this city is going to eat it again and it will look like neighborhoods around which they built one big electrified fence. Floors 2-3 will also lose part of the sea view.
Interesting and serious article. What about the train housing in Kiryat Eliezer?? (Yovav Street, Avner Street, etc...)
Thanks.
The contractors found a gold mine for them - now through the intimidation of the apartment owners. It is true that there are thousands of dangerous buildings in Israel. and all over the world A building collapsed in Florida as well. And this is not a new phenomenon. Should we be afraid of her in the hysteria initiated by self-interested parties?
The answer is no.
First of all, the owners of the buildings can certainly work to repair cracks and breaks in the concrete and not every small break means that the building will fall apart tomorrow. It should be remembered that infrastructure works for the light rail are underway in the center, which create a strong tremor, so we may expect more cases.
All in all, urban renewal should continue, without hysteria and without panic where the contractors hope to convince everyone to give them construction percentages that could produce slum buildings in narrow and crowded streets where it will be difficult for firefighters and rescuers to reach, and this endangers your life even more. We have all seen the jungle Habiva Reich and there were already many articles about the rush.
The Tama 38/1 option of additions over an existing building should be canceled because, like thousands of engineers, I said that it only burdens and endangers the building and there is no such thing as cosmetically ash and giving external foundations in a belt that will ensure the stability of a very old building. There is no such trick.
Secondly, Tama 38/2 of demolition and construction should also be canceled for any building that is in good condition and the only initiative is for a high entrepreneurial profit and there is really no real need to demolish. There are many examples in Haifa.
The municipality needs to take the initiative and make a list of really dangerous buildings and not as if they will be a construction pool for contractors and also to ensure that the new construction does not create even more serious nuisances and problems in the future.
For example, construction in existing streets of 4-5 times the population they were originally designed to house creates enormous problems for drainage infrastructure, creates a garbage disposal problem, creates traffic jams during rush hours, lack of educational buildings for all ages, problems of shade on solar heaters in other buildings, problems of tunnels Wind, difficulty in evacuation in case of an event that requires rapid evacuation, danger of building cladding falling apart
Many places (many buildings in Israel are already installing nets and protected awnings over the entrances).
A new building does not guarantee that it does not have faults and problems that are no less dangerous than old buildings (it's just not an item in the media at the moment).
Behave with contractors very carefully, stand up for your rights, check that in the new construction environment there are enough playgrounds for children, enough garden areas and parks in case you need immediate evacuation to an open area.
If your building was built in the 60s-90s and 30 years have passed, don't wait for the municipalities. Invite a qualified engineer for a comprehensive inspection of the foundations. Over the years, changes are made to the building such as the addition of balconies, removal of interior walls, gluing of tiles on existing ones that create a constant load on the foundations of the buildings that must be taken into account and ensure that there is no subsidence or failure of the structure.
An unprofessional article that may cause unnecessary and unjustified fears among the residents of the houses.
The author uses "folk" expressions from the grocery store about "saving money, cement and iron in the construction of the buildings". The author thereby indicates the first cause of the expected collapse of the buildings. Unfounded and wrong statement!!
In the absence of minimal knowledge and understanding in the field, why write an article at a poor level and startle the residents who think that behind the article stands a high-level expert with an engineering education in the field of construction.
The mention of the collapse of the building in Holon as depending on the "economy" of materials during the building's construction indicates a basic lack of understanding of the causes and circumstances of its collapse.
The reporter would have done well to consult with an expert in the field of construction before publishing a shallow article about collapsing buildings.
The reporter recommends taking out insurance for apartments, while there is no insurance coverage for the collapse of a building as a result of wear and tear or the age of the building, or any other factor other than an earthquake.
The reporter is wrong and misleading and it's a shame.
Good article. The author does not pretend...like you to have the knowledge of an engineer, this is a descriptive article that tries to bring knowledge and information to laymen who have ignored the subject until now. One fact that has not been mentioned bothers me, and that is the municipality's appetite for increasing property taxes. It is a crime to grant construction permits to dimensional towers and a multitude of hanging balconies that are added to 60-70 year old buildings, and this without any unequivocal requirement for prior strengthening of the building as a whole. Everyone knows that these buildings cannot hold these additions and most of them create various hazards that endanger the buildings and their residents. . This is criminal negligence on the part of the municipality.
How beautiful that they renovated the commercial center in Neve David, stunning new stores, a pleasure, but has anyone checked the houses in front of the center, the dirt, the dirt, the way the houses look ruined, cracks from the outside inside, leaks in the houses in the winter, but who cares? We are waiting for the eviction of a building for another 20 or 30 years, and the dirt is celebrating all around, the main thing is talk like sand and we live in the most repulsive area there is, but that's fine, we'll wait until the next disaster..and then, Yagdan, here's another collapsed building.!
90% of the residential buildings in Haifa are prone to self-destruction after 50/60 years of construction wear and tear of the building materials that make up most of Haifa's buildings, their expiration date and durability have been gone for many years, see this response as a beautiful warning an hour/day a week ago, I apologize for your understanding, but I do not see partners in my opinion And it's sad
Haifa Haifa City Yam Yazid Dr. Bar 111
That is why the engineer of the city of Haifa must check all the buildings in the city of Haifa. I have always said that it will not happen like what happened in the city of Holon God forbid. Shabbat Shalom. Nice article Michal Yaron. Mahi Pa, Haifa's site.
On the other hand, there are good and strong abandoned stone buildings in the lower city that were sealed up instead of being renovated and used for living, such as the 130 Postcards Kibbutz Bar and the Kameh Yisrael building.
The future of Haifa is the neighborhoods on the plain and not on the slopes of Haifa and on the slopes there is nothing like a plain in the coastal neighborhoods and forgive me the pigs who don't come to visit here
At the beginning of Zalman Shneor street in the old houses it is a danger to lives.
Next to the noise from the construction of new towers, the old houses suffer from deep cracks, rusty irons sticking out of the crumbling walls, dampness in the walls and walls falling or getting belly (on the verge of collapse). This is without mentioning the pigs on 4 and 2.
The apartment owners ran away and rent to anyone who doesn't understand and even downsize or divide the apartments.
3 rooms for NIS 2000 so it's no wonder the neighborhood is filled with poor people.
sad
It's a shame you didn't move to Kiryat Haim as well. We have railway buildings in front of the sea and also far from the sea that were built decades ago.