The government will introduce a rental subsidy for newlyweds who have no immediate plans to buy a home, alongside a preferential home loan program to be launched next year, with the aim of reducing the financial burden of young people.
The two programs will each offer 20,000 openings per year, with details to be announced by the Ministry of the Interior once they have been finalized, head of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said on Friday.
Details of a plan previously unveiled by the ministry said that couples aged 20 to 39 buying their first home or upgrading to a bigger house after having children would be eligible for a NT$2 million (US$66,000) government-subsidized home loan that would be interest-free for the first two years.
Jiang said the Cabinet was also at work on a rental subsidy program in consideration of the fact that renting a home is usually the first choice of most newlyweds.
Jiang announced the plan after a meeting on Friday afternoon with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), during which Jiang reported on the Cabinet’s progress in reviewing the president’s campaign promises.
Also at the meeting were Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and Vice Premier Chiu Cheng-hsiung (邱正雄).
Jiang said the Cabinet would honor all 414 policy items promised by Ma during his presidential campaign.
While the details of the short-term policies were expected to be publicized sometime next week, information on medium-term policies scheduled to come into force next year would be announced between late next month and early September, Jiang said.
These policies include the implementation of a voluntary military service system, which the Ministry of National Defense said could begin in four to six years, Jiang said.
The plan to offer a monthly subsidy to workers on parental leave to take care of children up to two years old would be introduced in 2010, he said.
The subsidy is expected to amount to 60 percent of a worker’s salary, receivable until the child reaches the age of two, he said.
If both parents are unemployed, they would receive NT$5,000 per month until their child turns two years old, he said.
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