Affordable housing meets resistance

Sun Moon Lake is gradually reestablishing itself as Taiwan's premier tourism resort after the devastating blow it was dealt two and a half years ago by the 921 earthquake. The signs of that terrible calamity are still visible in the ongoing work to shore up roads and beautify the lakeshore, but the tour buses are now arriving in force and hotels can boast good booking rates -- if nothing compared to what they were used to before the calamity. But for the people who live here, this return to normalcy is little more than a facade, and after over two years, many continue to live in temporary shelters.

Some of the people hardest hit are the Aboriginal population of Nantou, especially the Shao (邵) tribe, Taiwan's smallest tribal group that is concentrated on the banks of Sun Moon Lake. Lacking economic reserves, and with their one permanent asset -- the land -- devastated, government subsidies have proved woefully inadequate. But according to Hsieh Ying-chun (謝英俊), an architect who has been living in the Shao's Tehua Community (德化社), money is not really the issue at all. "There's plenty of it," he said in frustration, "there is more than enough for everyone to build a house." Of course it depends on what kind of house -- and he is well aware that it is not in everyone's interests to provide the cheapest alternative.

Two and a half years after 921, many people remain in prefabricated "temporary" accommodation. Although there have been a number of high profile projects, most notably the rebuilding of schools designed by some of Taiwan's most outstanding young architects, many Shao Aborigines are still without a house of their own. "The temporary housing was not designed to last this long," said Huang Fu-kuei (黃福魁), an architect who has worked with Hsieh down in Nantou since almost immediately after the quake. "The floors are already beginning to warp and crack." Even so, signs that the residents don't see any quick solutions are apparent in the symbols of permanence, shop signs and flowerbeds that the temporary housing areas have taken on.

Hsieh has committed himself to the belief that affordable housing can be made available to the Aborigines of the Tehua Community and elsewhere in a singular way that has found resonance with a devoted band of followers -- and also resistance from forces within the community and local government.

Originally, Hsieh, like many other professionals, donated their time in an effort to help out the refugees of Nantou. Unlike most others, he is still there. He now heads a group of young architects in the 921 Disaster Area Housing Reconstruction Service Group (九二一災區家屋再造服務團隊), who live and work on a piece of land that they unashamedly have "commandeered" from the county government. Hsieh and henchman Huang have been living in the community since one month after the quake, and many of their 10-member staff have been there over a year. The reason that Hsieh has made this commitment, which keeps him from a lucrative architectural practice in Taipei, is that he believes the issue simply cannot be resolved from the comfort of an architectural office in the capital, hundreds of kilometers away.

Methodology

The idea that the simplest way of building houses would be to bring in a construction company to do the work does not wash with Hsieh. Houses built in this way cost far more than most of the Aboriginal people in the area can ever afford, even with a government subsidy. Moreover, the local economy is completely bypassed, with the money going into the pockets of outside firms.