Tel Aviv to Reserve Affordable Housing for Teachers and Kindergarten Staff

Tel Aviv-Yafo is expanding benefits for educators as it struggles with a severe shortage of teachers, kindergarten staff and other school employees. The city says the labor crisis is felt especially strongly because of the cost of living, traffic, parking problems and public transport difficulties, and it is now channeling all affordable-housing units to education workers first.

Under the new plan, teachers and kindergarten staff, current or future city educators, will get priority in the city’s affordable-housing lotteries. They do not need to have lived in Tel Aviv before applying, but they must be at least 26, own no apartment and have a family income below the seventh income decile. Other eligible residents can compete only for units left over after educators are allocated their share.

The city says about 550 affordable units already exist in projects across Tel Aviv-Yafo, including Midtown, Azrieli Town, Gindi TLV, Ganei Shapira and Yesod HaMa'ala 33. A separate project on Matalon Street, called “Beit HaMoreh” or “Teacher’s House,” was designed specifically for educators. It currently houses 45 teachers and kindergarten staff out of 70 apartments, and from August it is expected to be fully occupied by education workers. In the latest lottery for that project, opened in April 2026, about 1,000 teachers and kindergarten staff registered. The apartments, three-room units, rent for 3,800 shekels a month plus 450 shekels in management fees, below the city’s average small-apartment rent of 5,882 shekels that month, according to Wecheck.

Deputy Mayor Assaf Zamir said the city is dealing with “dozens” of missing educators and that in some schools one teacher is covering two or even three classes at once. He said many staff members cannot cope with the job or city life, adding, “We want those here to feel professional respect, stability and a future.” He said the city has been able to direct existing stock to educators because those units were approved before Amendment 120 to the Planning and Building Law took effect, which now prevents earmarking future affordable housing exclusively for one profession.

Mayor Ron Huldai launched a strategic plan in June 2022 to add about 10,000 affordable units in a decade. Since then, the stock has grown only from 306 to 550 units, but the city says another 9,500 are expected in coming years, about a third of them in Sde Dov.