Local autonomy in action: Mobile homes for immigrants in Israel

The process of developing a policy in Israel for immigrant housing in general, and particularly a regional policy, occurred following a wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union beginning in 1989 comprising more than a million new immigrants requiring immediate housing solutions. The purpose of this article is to examine relations between local and central governments using this controversial new immigrant mobile-home policy in Israel. We show how the spatial/geographical distribution of new immigrant housing reflects variations in local autonomy development within a unitary system of government. The present study uses documentary material from informants in reconstructing the decision-making process and the decisions themselves. The new patterns of behavior that evolved in an unplanned manner between central and local government, expressed primarily as responses by strong local governments mediated by socio-economic, political, and historical issues, impact significantly on the effect of decentralized patterns on the decision-making system.

Research highlights
► Describes local autonomy in practice, using the case of a national policy for mobile homes for new immigrants.
► Local autonomy expressed primarily as responses to the demands of strong local governments.
► Changes in national policy occurred at local government levels, according to local politics - interests represented by the mayors.
► Pragmatism that derives from particular-political-electoral reasons may be regarded as equal to factors such as ideology, demography, socio-economic and political features when change is an issue.