About 41,000 more low-to-medium-income households have been approved for financial aid since the amended Social Assistance Act (社會救助法) took effect in July, Deputy Interior Minister Tseng Chung-ming said on Monday.
As of Oct. 28, more than 41,000 families, or about 132,000 people, had been added to the number of low-to-medium-income households that were receiving public assistance before the new measure came into being, Tseng said.
According to the Ministry of the Interior’s Web site, the number of low-income households receiving subsidies grew from 67,191 in 2001 to 114,437 as of the end of the second quarter this year.
The amended law, which was passed by the Legislative Yuan in December last year and took effect on July 1 this year, revised the income threshold for low-to-medium income families downward, making more people eligible for subsidies.
The thresholds vary in each city and municipality according to the administrative region’s cost of living and current land value.
The social assistance section under the Taipei City Government said that 19,529 households had been added to the low-income household aid program since July.
It did not provide figures for the number of middle-income households that became eligible for aid.
The city classifies applicants into four categories based on their monthly income and family size. Financial aid ranges from NT$1,400 (US$46.50) to NT$14,152 per person per month, according to the Department of Social Welfare’s Web site.
In Taipei, a low-income household is defined as one where the average monthly income per member is less than NT$14,794, average personal property is below NT$150,000 and total real estate holdings are worth less than NT$5.5 million.
For a medium-income family in Taipei, average income and personal property per household member should not exceed NT$18,755 a month and NT$150,000 respectively, and real estate holdings should not exceed NT$6.5 million.
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