Apartments included in Taipei’s recently proposed public housing plan are too expensive to be rented by truly needy residents, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) said yesterday.
At a news conference, Wang compared rents for city-owned MRT apartments announced last week with rents posted online for similarly sized apartments nearby. Rents for the newly constructed MRT apartments were two to three times as expensive because of added amenities and management fees, she said.
Under the city’s plans, 570 housing units next to Longshan Temple, Gangqian, Taipei Bridge and Xindian Depot MRT stations are to be rented out beginning next month with monthly rents ranging from NT$8,400 to NT$29,800. Units would be rented only to individuals earning less than NT$52,000 per month, with 10 percent of units reserved for members of disadvantaged groups.
Given the relatively high rental rates, the new apartments would likely only help those who she called “wealthy youth,” rather than those who truly could not afford to rent a home in Taipei, Wang said.
“If you have a monthly income of NT$50,000, there are a lot of choices of where you can rent in Taipei,” she said. “Rent this high will not help those truly in need.”
Wang also criticized the rates for being higher than those in a similar MRT housing program during the administration of former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), a member of the KMT.
The previous developments were made available for 30 percent below market rates for new MRT housing, in contrast to the new units being marked down by 15 percent, with the possibility of an additional 15 percent markdown in subsequent years if renters abide by city standards for heath, cleanliness and safety, she said.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has said that harsher conditions for the new round of public housing were imposed to satisfy the demands of nearby residents, who expressed concern about “the type of residents” the projects would attract.
On Sunday, Ko said that he hoped to raise the existing cap on the income of eligible renters for future public housing developments, adding that the apartments are not intended for truly “low-income” renters.
Further controversy over residential landowners’ opposition to public housing erupted yesterday when Taipei Department of Urban Development Commissioner Lin Jou-min (林洲民) said in a radio interview with Voice of Taipei (台北之音) that apartment owners living within an MRT housing development in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) had demanded that tenants of discounted publicly owned apartments be required to enter through a different door from ordinary residents.
Lin incited controversy over the weekend by calling Taipei residents “selfish” for being prejudiced against public housing residents. Lin later apologized.
Meanwhile, former Taipei deputy mayor Chang Chin-oh (張金鶚) — a professor of land economics at National Chengchi University — on Sunday said that because the rental housing was a distinct submarket, subsidized rental housing units would not depress the market values of surrounding housing, at the same time urging that the percentage of housing reserved for members of disadvantaged groups be tripled.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
PROBLEMATIC: Popular hotpot restaurant chains were among the list of restaurants that failed the inspection and have been ordered to remove bad ingredients The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of hotpot ingredients in hotpot restaurants resulted in a 16.7 percent failure rate. Eight vegetables had excessive pesticide residue and two other items had aflatoxin and excessive preservatives. As the weather is getting colder, more people eat at hotpot restaurants so a random inspection of ingredients was conducted in October to ensure food safety, the department said. Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said 60 different ingredients were tested: 15 high-risk vegetables, 15 processed food items, 10 soy-based food items, five meat items, five lamb items, five seafood items and five peanut powder
RSS