On Oct. 13 the Alliance for Social Housing asked the government to build rental apartments for disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society. Within a month, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) announced the location of the first units in Taipei city and county. The initial estimate was for 1,661 apartments, with construction set to begin in December next year at the latest.
Ministry of the Interior figures show the housing price-to-income ratio in the capital is 10.87, the highest in the country, followed by Taipei County with 7.89. The consistently high prices in the greater Taipei area have pushed housing far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Economically and socially disadvantaged groups simply do not have the resources to rent housing in the area, much less buy it.
The idea of social housing in itself is a good one, and the land allocated for the first batch good enough, but 1,661 new apartments is nowhere near enough to ameliorate the problem, much less resolve it. The success of the policy depends on how it is implemented.
There has been a housing policy in place to provide mid to low-cost housing for people on corresponding income levels to buy. The trouble is that if you can only afford cheap housing, you get poorly designed units with tiny rooms and cheap materials. Places in more favorable areas are, of course, very much in demand, and are allocated through a lottery system, whereas those in the less desirable areas often go begging. Even when the places are occupied, people struggle to maintain the property on their limited incomes and the area goes downhill — as evidenced by the Yanji Public Housing District to the east of Taipei, which has developed a reputation for being ramshackle and rowdy.
The government should not go down this path again. A better approach would be to build such housing on a BOT (build, operate, transfer) basis with the units grouped in communities, not individual blocks, which tend to waste valuable land resources. Building communities would allow architects to create complexes that are more in keeping with the times, more environmentally friendly and better designed, as well as more energy and economically efficient. The BOT model would require the units to be professionally maintained, making them more attractive to residents and helping dispel suspicions that the government just wants to keep the poor cooped up together. The BOT system would also mean less initial outlay for the government and an eventual benefit of substantial fees for the operator.
However, the government must be very clear about which groups need assistance, where aid is to be directed and what locations would best suit their needs. For example, the architects should take into account access issues for the elderly and physically or mentally handicapped. There will be differences in considerations for the socially or economically disadvantaged; students from other counties and young people looking for work in Taipei; and families or single people. All of these issues need to be worked out in advance, before a BOT tender is listed.
The government must also think about how it is going to allocate social housing. Both the Housing Act (住宅法) and the Public Assistance Act (社會救助法) clearly define eligibility based on social and economic disadvantages and mid to low-income levels, but there is so much more to clear up. How to deal with students and jobseekers from outside Taipei? What conditions need to be met before a prospective tenant could rent a unit and how are these to be verified? Who should get priority? How should the rent be set and how long should the lease be? How are different groups to be allocated in one community? What kind of management is needed once the units are filled?
All of these are major questions to be considered and the failure to fully answer each one could cripple or doom a revamped social housing program.
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