Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday ignored the central government’s lukewarm response to his proposal to build public housing in one downtown area, pledging to continue with the plan and add an additional 4,808 public housing units by 2014.
Hau wants to build affordable rental apartments for young people and disadvantaged families in one of the city’s most expensive areas on the intersection of Renai Road and Jianguo S Road.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), however, showed little support for the project, saying that the plan had not been agreed on yet and the location, which is in Da-an District (大安), is inappropriate.
Defending the plan, Hau yesterday said the city is continuing to negotiate with the Ministry of National Defense on obtaining the piece of land, which is currently the air force’s headquarters, and would communicate with the Cabinet to carry out the construction project.
The proposed project raised eyebrows as the location is surrounded by luxury apartment complexes with average monthly rent between NT$40,000 and NT$50,000.
Some local residents had protested against the building of public housing units in the area and said the city government can use the budget to build more units in less expensive districts, such as Wenshan (文山) or Nangang (南港).
Hau brushed aside concerns about the negative impact of the units on the housing market and the quality of life around the neighborhood, promising to build high-quality public housing in the city.
“We want to break the stereotype about public housing and make the public know that public housing units do not necessarily mean poor neighborhoods,” he said at Taipei City Hall.
Taipei City’s Department of Urban Development Commissioner Ting Yu-chun (丁育群) said the city government would also use vacant municipal land to build other public housing units. The plan for 4,808 units by 2014 will be built mostly in Wenshan, Nangang and Neihu (內湖) districts.
The number of public housing units will be further increased to 20,329 in the long term.
The city plans to build more than 2,900 units on the controversial location with monthly rents of less than NT$10,000. The units will not be for sale to prevent real estate companies from using the units to raise housing prices, Ting said.
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