With the Taipei City Government set to continue accepting rental applications for units in its joint development buildings at Xiaobitan and Taipei Bridge MRT stations today, critics said that high rents have caused the projects to deviate from their aims of providing public housing for less well-off people.
The phase-two vetting process to determine suitable tenants is to see the upper limit on age restrictions — previously set at 45 — removed, the Taipei City Department of Urban Development said.
All registered households with an annual income of less than NT$1.25 million (US$38,098) who do not own any residential property are eligible to apply, the department said.
Each contract is valid for three years, and applicants would be able to renew the contract once, meaning that tenants could stay in a unit for a maximum of six years, it said.
Applicants that meet certain requirements, for example Aborigines, people from low-income families or people who are physically or mentally challenged would be allowed to rent a unit for nine years, it said.
Department specialist Chiu Wan-ching (邱婉清) said that the rent for the units at these two stations ranged from NT$19,700 to NT$28,400 per month,with maintenance fees included.
She said that including the 310 units, the Taipei City Government in April introduced a total of 570 units; all of which had previously been reserved for people who won raffles.
However, many who had expressed an interest in renting a unit later failed to show up to sign the contract, she said.
Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation for Housing and Community Service director Feng Li-fang (馮麗芳) said that the steep rent has made the buildings a “far cry” from their stated aim of providing public housing, adding that poor lighting in some of the apartments is also a problem, citing an apartment in the MeHas City in New Taipei’s Sindian District (新店).
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