The fight against the "aging" phenomenon of Kfar Saba:
The Kfar Saba municipality has announced that for the first time a student dormitory complex will be built in the Sharon city, at least half of which will be defined for city residents only. Services and related commerce for public use, for example: gym, student restaurant, laundry, clinics and more.
The complex, which is located between Heroes' Street and Ruppin, is owned by the Bardugo Group.
A shortage of 1,000 small apartments for rent for students interested in living in Kfar Saba, leads them to emigrate to other cities, and so in the last decade the proportion of young people in the city has been declining every year.
The mayor of Kfar Saba, Rafi Saar, has decided to fight the phenomenon of changing municipal priorities.
Meanwhile, against the background of being a very attractive residential city with a high real estate value, members of the local committee were presented with the results of a survey to examine the public needs of student dormitories. With the departure of young people and students from the city.
The number of 20-34 year olds living in Kfar Saba has decreased in the last 6 years by about 2,500 and now stands at less than 15,000 people.
This is according to data from a recent geocartography survey.
Together with its neighboring cities, Raanana and Hod Hasharon, the proportion of young people aged 20-34 in relation to the total population in Kfar Saba is only about 16%, while in all cities in the area the number of undergraduate students is declining.
In the past, more than 3,500 students lived in Kfar Saba, but their number has been declining in recent years, and the municipality fears that the trend may continue.
It should be noted that the trend of abandonment of young people is probably not due to quality of life reasons but largely due to a real shortage of affordable housing.
Just this week, Kfar Saba was defined in the latest Central Cities Index of the Central Bureau of Statistics at the top of the list of cities that residents are most satisfied with living in Israel (95.5% of city residents are satisfied).
However the shortage of small apartments for young people and students forces them to emigrate to other places.
A young couple or student who wants to rent a 2-3 room apartment in the city is expected to pay a rental price of NIS 3,500-5000 - when the supply of small apartments in the city is relatively poor and stands at a few dozen.
Based on a geocartography survey, the city has an immediate shortage of about 1,000 small apartments for students - which will serve students in the area's colleges such as Beit Berl, IDC Herzliya, the Shaarei Mada VeMishpat Academic Center and the Ariel University Center in Samaria.
Despite Kfar Saba's ambition to attract young people to the city, it seems that it still seeks to maintain its urban character, which is characterized by less density and high-rise construction, and more low-rise construction.
The developer of the student project requested a year and a half ago that the process begin to build a 20-story tower with 900 units, but this was rejected by the mayor, who wanted to reduce the project by half, and is expected to stand at 450 apartments on 13 floors.
Geocartography economists point out that the preservation and absorption of young people in the city is in Kfar Saba's clear interest in the medium and long term, in the preservation of human capital that will feed the city's employment centers and commercial areas in the immediate vicinity of the complex.
Rafi Saar, Mayor of Kfar Saba: "The city is changing its face, regenerating and expanding. As part of the master plan for urban renewal that anomobiles, returning girls and residents of the city back home is one of our goals for the coming years. We are increasingly promoting building permits. -Building, TMA 38 or construction of new complexes.
At the same time, we are preparing to adapt the city's infrastructure - with an emphasis on transportation, green spaces and public spaces.
Our goal is one - to bring the satisfaction of the residents with the quality of life in the city from 95% to 100%. "
The chairman of the National Student Union, Elhanan Fleheimer, commented on the project: "In an age where student life is accompanied by many socio-economic challenges, the most prominent of which is the issue of housing, this is important And encouraging the acquisition of academic education in Kfar Saba. "
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