Posted on 09/03/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
Last Friday the Satmar Hasidic sect celebrated 45 years since the passing of the Grand Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum.
As part of the anniversary ceremony held by the Satmar Rebbe, with the participation of thousands of Hasidim, the Rebbe spoke about the difficult problem of housing prices in the local community.
In recent years Kiryas Joel, home to many Hasidic in New York, has seen a drastic increase in apartment prices. The price per square meter jumped from $1,800 five years ago to $6,000 today – an increase of about 400 percent.
In response, the Rebbe established a special committee in collaboration with the city mayors. About two months ago, a new municipal law was passed limiting apartment prices in new projects to $3,000 per square meter.
However, realizing that the implementation of the law would take time, the Rebbe contacted Hasidic businessman, Akiva Hersh Klein, who is building a new neighborhood of about 2,000 apartments in the city and asked Klein to initiate a process of lowering prices.
In a dramatic announcement, the Rebbe declared that Klein agreed to the request and put 1,000 apartments on the market at a price equal to half the normal market price.
According to estimates, this project may cause Klein a loss of about a quarter of a billion Dollars.