The Taipei City Government apologized yesterday to a low-income family in the city's Chungshan district for wrongfully demolishing part of the family's home to make room for a road's expansion.
The city, however, failed to say whether compensation would be paid for the blunder or if it would undertake reconstruction of the property.
Accompanied by DPP city councilor Lo Tsung-sheng (羅宗勝), Lai Wen-chang (賴文章), the head of the seven-member family, said that since the demolition in mid-June, the family has been forced to squeeze into an area measuring only about five ping (17m2).
"We do hope that the city will either help us to relocate or to rebuild," Lai said.
Lai has been living with his wife, their three children, his younger brother and his uncle in the illegally constructed house on Sungchiang Road for over 20 years.
The house previously measured 30 pings (about 100m2).
The city had originally intended to only demolish one third of Lin's house, but ended up tearing down all but the five pings.
Lai's younger brother, Lai Wen-lung (賴文龍), who was also at the press conference, said that the family experienced an extremely difficult time when Typhoon Toraji struck Taiwan in July.
"We were scared to death because we thought that the house might collapse on us," he said.
He added that he has subsequently been forced to move out and rent a room nearby as the house is now too small to accommodate him.
Wu Chun-hsiu (
"I'm sorry for the mistake we made; it was unintentional," he said.
Lo said that the city might have colluded with the land owner to force the residents out in a bid to recover the land.
"I'm asking that the city's anti-corruption department conduct an investigation into the matter immediately," he said.
Lo added that what upset him most was that the bureau had said that the mistake was not a serious one because it had paid each of the other 20 families illegally occupying the area around NT$700,000 to relocate, and that the Lins had received a similar amount when they agreed to have one-third of their property demolished.
Lo called on the city's Bureau of Social Affairs (
Tung Fu-chuan (童富泉), a division chief of the social affairs bureau's social worker's office, said that the bureau would be happy to help the Lai family find new accommodation and to help pay part of their rent as well.
"Since the family claims NT$15,000 in social welfare benefits because of its low-income status, the bureau can offer the family an additional NT$1,500 monthly rental subsidy," he said.
To be eligible for such benefits, an individual must not earn more than NT$12,977 a month and must not have bank deposits exceeding NT$150,000.
The Lai family has been on social welfare since last November.
Lai Wen-chang has been the family's sole breadwinner for over 10 years.
Lai said that it is extremely difficult for him and his younger brother to find well-paid employment.
Both of the brothers have only graduated with elementary school educations.
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