The Taipei City Government yesterday announced plans to build about 20,000 public housing units on 45 plots, which would require about NT$127.7 billion (US$3.91 billion) in bank loans.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) said that including funds remaining from the former administration, the city government has allocated a four-year housing budget of NT$14.3 billion.
The city plans to acquire the plots through unused spaces, land reclaimed through urban renewal projects and defunct facilities overseen by the central government.
The units would be most highly concentrated in the city’s Xiniyi District (信義), with 6,600 units planned, followed by Wenshan District (文山), while three units have also been planned in New Taipei City, Lin said.
As a new policy, the city’s Department of Social Welfare would allocate an annual budget of at least NT$800 million in rent subsidies to people renting public housing units, Lin said.
The subsidies would be issued to tenants in inverse proportion to tenants’ income, meaning those with less income would receive higher subsidies, he said.
On qualifications for residents wanting to rent units in joint development buildings, public housing integrated with MRT stations, the city government would raise the threshold from the 40th percentile to the 50th percentile of Taipei residents’ average annual income.
The rule is to take effect with the completion of the next batch of joint development buildings, he said.
The city presently has 570 units to let at MRT Taipei Bridge, Xiaobitan, Longshan Temple and Gangqian stations.
Saying that Taipei’s work to promote public housing projects would greatly influence other municipalities, he called on the central government to cancel requirements that the city pay for nine plots it plans to acquire.
The central government has asked the city government to pay NT$30.5 billion for the nine plots, including a plot in -Taoyuan’s Linkou District (林口), where 1,678 units have been planned for use first by international delegates participating in the 2017 Summer Universiade before being rented out to local residents.
Regarding other developments, Lin said that six bases for public housing projects had be selected as venues for the city’s “smart communities” pilot project, which would feature developments such as facilities providing elders with long-term medical care, daycare centers, smart power grids and other smart city infrastructures.
These include the Dongming Public Housing project in Nangang District (南港) and projects close to Ruiguang Market in Neihu District (內湖), Ming Lun Elementary School in Datong District (大同), a former military base in Wanhua District (萬華), as well as Kuang Tzu Senior Citizens’ Home and projects in Liuzhangli (六張犁) — both in Xinyi District.
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