Details for new plans to rent out city-owned apartments next to MRT stations were announced by the Taipei City Government yesterday.
“Even if there is still no way to make housing purchases affordable for young people in Taipei, at least we can make sure they have a place to live,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said there was no need to force young people to live far away, as the MRT system’s 103 stations all have accompanying housing developments.
Photo: CNA
He dismissed concerns that renting out apartments within MRT developments would negatively affect surrounding real-estate prices, saying that the apartments were of higher quality than previously constructed public housing.
According to the plans, 570 housing units next to the Longshan Temple, Gangqian, Taipei Bridge and Xindian Depot MRT stations would be opened for rental next month, with further properties to follow as other joint development projects are completed.
Li Cheng-an (李政安), head of the Department of Rapid Transportation Systems’ joint development division, said his unit had chosen to sell off housing in past developments to avoid the trouble of having to manage the properties, a problem that would be addressed by the establishment of a city-owned rental company to take over responsibility.
Under the new plan, housing units are to be available for rental at rates 15 percent to 30 percent less than market price for up to six years by individuals between 20 and 45 years of age, regardless of their city of household registration. Ten percent of the units would be reserved for people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
An interview with Lin published on Wednesday in Next Magazine outlined the considerations behind the city’s future public housing plans in more detail.
In the interview, Lin said that with publicly rented housing units composing only 0.08 percent of housing units nationwide, Taiwan lagged far behind the 5 percent average for international cities.
“This demonstrates that a government function is missing,” he said. “The government has failed to regulate housing prices and care for people who need a place to live.”
He said the city plans to construct and rent out 50,000 new housing units over the next eight years, which would represent 5 percent of units on the city’s housing market, helping to relieve rising housing prices.
“If the Taipei City Government had rented instead of selling the more than 50,000 public housing units it constructed over the last 20 to 30 years, there would not be today’s problem with high housing prices,” he said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
RSS