More than half of the military dormitories reserved for single retirees have been illegally occupied by non-military personnel, a misuse of government assets worth NT$12.3 billion (US$398.7 million), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.
The Ministry of National Defense has 60,000 ping (19.8 hectares) in 41 dormitory complexes nationwide for retired single military personnel, but more than half of the residents do not qualify for the housing, DPP Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) told a news conference in Taipei.
There are 2,318 people living in the dormitories, 1,143 of whom are veterans.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The other 1,175 are soldiers’ spouses or relatives, including 1,035 Chinese citizens, 537 of whom are spouses of veterans and the rest are widows of veterans who used to live in the dormitories, the lawmakers said.
Only single veterans who have no immediate family qualify for the accommodation. According to the residency regulations, people are expected to vacate the dormitories if they marry.
However, many people have continued to live in the dormitories well after the death of their spouse, with relatives of some people also moving in.
Residents are exempt from paying rent or utility bills. The average monthly electricity bill per unit is NT$2,800, more than 10 times higher than the national average of NT$278. The average monthly water bill per unit is NT$532, well above the national average of NT$83.3.
Some residents have sublet units or converted them into stores, Wang said.
“The ministry has done little to address the illegal occupation of single dormitories by married personnel and their relatives since it was exposed in May last year, but the public has to pay for the mismanagement,” Wang said.
“The government should continue to support senior military retirees, but it must remove unqualified people from the dormitories and stop the use of the housing for commercial purposes,” DPP Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said.
The ministry issued a public notice requesting unqualified people to move out instead of enforcing the regulations, Tsai said.
Many of the dormitories are in prime locations, and the government should also include those units in urban renewal projects, DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said the government would complete an investigation into the alleged illegal occupancies and propose humanitarian solutions in two months.
Deputy Minister of National Defense Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明) said the average age of the veterans, many of whom were married after moving into the dormitories, is 89, and the ministry is inclined to allow their spouses to live in the housing to help care for their medical needs.
However, in cases where units are occupied solely by non-military personnel, the defense ministry would definitely evict them, Lee said.
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