The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday defended Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) social housing proposal in the face of criticism from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus, saying that while Tsai’s housing platform might not solve all the nation’s housing problems, it is a brave first step.
“The first step to resolving Taiwan’s housing issues is to provide a stable housing option other than buying property, and then come up with a set of integral strategies to combat structural issues surrounding the purchasing of homes,” DPP Policy Committee deputy executive director Shih Keh-he (施克和) said.
The KMT criticized the DPP presidential candidate’s proposal made on Sunday to create 200,000 social housing units that would only be available for rent to those who are unable to afford to buy their own homes. The KMT caucus called the plan an empty objective that could never be realized.
However, Shih said the key to Tsai’s proposals are determination and vision.
“To solve the housing problem Tsai and her think tank are preparing three sets of policy proposals on housing, housing market management and market sector policies so that the right to housing, a healthy housing market and development of the market could all be taken into consideration,” Shih said.
The KMT’s mistaken focus on the real estate market rather than housing solutions has led to skyrocketing prices that leave the economically disadvantaged and young people suffering, he said.
“It is really unbelievable that, instead of thinking what they have done wrong, the KMT is now criticizing solutions proposed by the opposition and other housing policy experts,” Shih said.
“Many countries, including South Korea, are working to raise the number of housing units,” he said. “In Seoul alone, there has been an addition of 100,000 social housing units within just the past three years.”
The KMT only wants to throw the housing problem back onto the real-estate market, which is actually part of the problem, Shih said.
“Tsai’s policy proposal may not solve all the problems immediately, but it is at least the first brave step toward solving the problems,” he said.
In response to media queries for a comment, KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said the Executive Yuan already has a scheme similar to the one Tsai proposed.
“Such a policy is good in essence, but it requires thorough communication with the public. In addition, we are not in an auction and you cannot just go around and yell ‘200,000’ [housing units] just to outbid others. That is not how policies are drawn up,” Hung said.
The Executive Yuan’s is planning to build 34,000 social housing units within a decade.
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
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