Thesis the Impact of Housing Stress on Young Orthodox Jewish
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Benjamin Wittenberg 3100814 PLAN4132 – Thesis The Impact of Housing Stress on Young Orthodox Jewish Families in Sydney 1 Abstract In order to participate fully in Jewish life, Orthodox Jews need to live within walking distance of the rest of the community and its institutions. In Sydney, the areas with a strong Jewish presence are located in the eastern suburbs centred around Bondi and the north shore, primarily in St Ives. These areas have seen large increases in housing price in recent years, which has made paying mortgages or rent difficult for some in the Orthodox Jewish community. This is felt very acutely by young families who have entered the housing market only relatively recently. Many families have had to cut back considerably their household expenditure in order to pay for housing in these locations. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, in the forms of interviews and a questionnaire, this thesis aims to explore the impacts of rising housing prices and the resulting housing stress on young orthodox Jewish families in Sydney. The findings confirm that many young orthodox Jewish families are feeling the pinch, are making do with less, and are relying on support from the rest of their family, namely their parents, for help with payments for housing. The thesis considers what solutions may be possible. Key Words: Housing Stress, Jewish Community, Housing Affordability 2 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank G-D for making this thesis possible. With all the problems and issues that arose during the whole thesis process, the knowledge that You would never give me a problem that I could not overcome proved true and all the coincidences that worked in my favour for this thesis would never have happened if it wasn’t for Your guidance at every step of the way. The fact that I was able to write the thesis at all is a testament to the Blessings that You shower me with every day, and for this I am forever grateful. To Mum, Dad and Uncle Alex, thanks for all your advice for how to go about writing this thesis. Your ideas have been really helpful, and have helped shape my thesis into what it is currently. Uncle Alex thank you for putting me through university, I hope I’ve made you proud. Thank you to Professors Bruno Parolin, Ian Burnley and Robert Freestone for your assistance in getting me on the right topic and giving me advice along the way – I really appreciate it. Thank you to Amanda Goodman of the Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA) for your provision of the JCA statistics for Sydney – It was a big help. Lastly thank you to all the survey participants, both those who filled out the questionnaire and those who were interviewed – I could not have done it without you and I really appreciate you giving up your time to help me out. 3 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 6 2.0 Snapshot of the Sydney Jewish Community 8 2.1 Jewish Population of Sydney 9 2.2 Location 9 2.3 Age and Gender 11 2.4 Marital Status 12 2.5 Education 13 2.6 Industry and Employment 13 2.7 Income and Poverty 14 3.0 Why Live in a Jewish Area? Religious and social restrictions requiring living in groups 15 3.1 Jewish Religious Laws 16 3.2 Social Reasons 17 4.0 What is Housing Stress? 20 4.1 Current Situation in Sydney 21 5.0 Literature Review 22 6.0 Outline of Research 25 7.0 Results and Analysis of Questionnaire 27 7.1 Questions 1-4, 14-15 – Basic Statistics 28 7.2 Questions 5-9 – Home Statistics 30 7.3 Questions 10-13 – Financial Difficulties 32 7.4 Questions 16-20 – Impact of Rising Housing Prices 33 7.5 Conclusion 35 8.0 Results and Analysis of Interviews 36 8.1 Jewish Life 37 8.2 Housing Prices and Their Effects 41 8.3 Parental Help and Other Solutions 42 8.4 Conclusion 44 9.0 Other Previous Attempts at Dealing with Jewish Housing Stress 45 9.1 New Villages: New Square and Kiryas Square, Kiryas Yoel, Kiryas Tosh 46 9.2 New/Cheaper Suburbs in Existing Cities 47 9.3 The North Shore 48 10.0 Possible Solutions 49 10.1 New Community 50 10.2 Subsidised Housing 50 10.3 Interest Free Loan Society – A Gemach 51 11.0 Conclusion 52 12.0 Bibliography 54 13.0 Glossary 58 14.0 Appendix A: Questionnaire 60 14.1 Appendix B: Questionnaire Letter 65 4 List of Figures Figure 1 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Location of Young and Elderly’ (Eckstein 2008, p.16) 10 Figure 2 – ‘NSW Population – Age and Gender’ (Eckstein 2008, p.15) 11 Figure 3 – ‘NSW Jewish Population – Age and Gender Compared to NSW Population’ (Eckstein 2008, p.15) 11 Figure 4 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Marital Status’ (Eckstein 2008, p.20) 12 Figure 5 – ‘Sydney Jewish Population – Proportion of Income Levels for Families by Geographic Location’ (Eckstein 2008, p.35) 14 Figure 6 – Example of Eruv Pole (The Sydney Eruv, 2007) 16 Figure 7 – Eruv Boundary Map (The Sydney Eruv, 2007) 17 Figure 8 – Welcoming of New Torah Scroll at the Jewish Learning Centre (Jewish Learning Centre, 2007) 18 Figure 9 – Example of a Shiur (Jewish Class) (Jewish Learning Centre, 2007) 19 Figure 10 – Aerial View of Kiryas Tosh (Shaffir, 2008) 46 Figure 11 – Main Yeshivot (Jewish religious schools) in Kiryas Tosh (Shaffir, 2008) 47 Figure 12 – Kehillat Masada Synagogue on the North Shore (Kehillat Masada, 2007) 48 5 1.0 Introduction 6 1.0 Introduction The Orthodox Jewish community in Sydney is a small but vibrant part of the wider Jewish community and the city at large. In order to participate fully in Jewish life, Jews the world over tend to congregate in certain suburbs. In Sydney, the district with the lion’s share of Sydney Jewry is the eastern suburbs of Sydney, and to a lesser extent, the municipality of Ku-ring-gai on the North Shore. For the Orthodox community, this is concentrated in Bondi and the suburbs surrounding it. Not all families can afford to live in this area, especially young Orthodox families, and as a result many have to rely on their parents and others for assistance. Intersecting with this are increasing housing prices, resulting in a situation where many Jewish families are feeling the pinch of prices that forever seem to be out of reach. This thesis attempts to shed more light on this situation, examining the human cost of housing. 7 2.0 Snapshot of the Sydney Jewish Community 8 2.0 Snapshot of the Sydney Jewish Community The data examined below has been derived from the Jewish Communal Appeal’s ‘Demography of the Sydney Jewish Community’, the research conducted by Gary Eckstein in 2006, based partially on census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as well as data gathered from various sources within the Jewish community, including surveys and information provided by partner Jewish organisations in Sydney, for whom the Jewish Communal Appeal (commonly known in the Jewish community as the JCA) is a roof body together with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies. 2.1 Jewish Population of Sydney According to the JCA, in June 2006 there were 42 232 Jews living in Sydney. There are more deaths than births in the Jewish community currently, largely due to the post war immigration of Holocaust survivors that came to Australia, however the community is still growing due to immigration from places such as South Africa, Israel, and other countries to a lesser extent, such as New Zealand and the UK (Eckstein, 2008, p.4). Sydney by far holds the lion’s share of Jews in New South Wales, and is the second largest in Australia, Melbourne coming first with over 60 000 Jewish residents. Compared internationally with other Jewish communities, the Jewish community of Sydney and Australia is growing, primarily from immigration and a rising birth-rate, in contrast with other parts of the world, including Western Europe the USA, where the Jewish communities are getting smaller (DellaPergola in Tal and Geltman, 2008, p.234) The Jewish community in terms of religious affiliation gravitates towards the Orthodox framework, with over 30 Orthodox synagogues and religious institutions in Sydney. There are two Reform/Progressive Temples in Sydney, and one Conservative service based at Temple Emmanuel in Woollahra. The strictly Orthodox Jewish community is much smaller, numbering about 2000 people spread across Sydney’s Jewish centres, however concentrations are found in the Bondi area, as will be discussed below. 2.2 Location 64% of the Jewish community lives in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, with the largest numbers located from Bondi to Vaucluse, numbering 8.8% of the general population (Eckstein 2008, p.4, 6). According to the methodology of Brimicombe in his study of ethnicity and religion based segregation in London, UK, Sydney’s Jewish community would fall under the bracket of enclave: focused within the general community (Brimicombe, 2007, p. 894). Randwick to Maroubra is growing in Jewish residents, while Lindfield and St Ives on the North Shore, the other area of major Jewish population in Sydney, have decreased (Eckstein 2008, p.4). Individual members of the traditional Orthodox community are found throughout the Jewish localities of Sydney, especially the less financially mobile and the elderly, partially being due to the fact that the Orthodox community has shifted over time in the eastern suburbs. Even so, generally the vast majority of the strictly Orthodox Jewish community can be found in Bondi, North Bondi and to a lesser extent in St Ives.