More than 10 percent of the central government’s dormitories are occupied by retired civil servants and their families free-of-charge, a Legislative Yuan Budget Center report shows.
The report shows that at least 4,395 households of retired civil servants — or more than 10 percent of 30,000 public dormitories — are not paying rent.
The Ministry of Finance’s National Property Administration dormitory management manual says that the dormitory units should be returned to the state within three months after the occupants leave their government post.
The Executive Yuan in 1983 removed an allowance for families of civil servants to be entitled to government dormitory units and differentiated the accommodations into three categories: those for executives, single employees and general civil servants.
Allowing retired civil servants and their dependents to continue occupying government dormitories goes against the amended rules, the report said.
The National Property Administration was quoted by the Budget Center as saying that there are still 2,773 dependent households living in government-owned units. About 100 households with special conditions have been granted deferred handling, but there are still about 2,600 households awaiting government action in accordance with the regulations.
The Budget Center report said that some dormitory units are in prime locations, but have been occupied by retired officials and their families rent free, which is against the “principle of fairness.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said generational injustice can be seen in the pension system, and now even in the use of government dormitories.
She called for action in accordance with the regulations, unless exemptions are granted under special circumstances.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said when retired civil servants are already entitled to preferential pensions and the 18 percent preferential interest rate, it is “unfair to young people” when they and their dependents are also enjoying free housing.
He said an investigation of the matter would be launched.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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