השיכון הציבורי – דימוי ומציאות במשך שלושה עשורים

This article seeks to reveal the public housing image during three decades and the gap between the image and the activities of the Ministry of Housing at the time. While the actual construction situation is examined by means of an historical review and relies on several sources, the image of the public housing is examined through an examination of three Israeli movies that allotted a central place to public housing and the periphery. Each one of these movies was created in a different decade and represents a different period, and in each of them the attitude towards the public housing image had changed. At the background of each of these movies stands Tel-Aviv: The bright, seductive big city – a symbol of success. At the base of all three movies is the comparison between Tel-Aviv which embodies "the first Israel", and the public housing that represents "the second Israel".In the three decades reviewed by the article, the Israeli society undergoes a long way from a closed to a privatized society. Accordingly, the Ministry of Housing privatized the building industry,transforming itself from a constructive to an administrative body. However, the more the state responsibilities towards its citizens diminishes, the more movies dealing with public housing show a longing for values inherent in it, like sense of community and state responsibility. The conclusion of the article is that there is an inverse relationship between the actual housing in practice and the image of housing in movies; the more alienated the era is, the longing to community and statehood increases.