Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday urged landlords nationwide to reduce their rents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The global spread of the novel coronavirus has led to an increase in the number of people who are unemployed and has affected disadvantaged groups, the TPP legislative caucus told a news conference in Taipei.
Low-income families were already struggling before the pandemic, it said, adding that rent alone puts an enormous amount of pressure on those families.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Over the past few years, not only have property prices soared, but rent has also gone up “outrageously,” TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.
Now, in the midst of the crisis, many shop owners have found themselves unable to pay rent, he said, adding that some restaurants have already gone out of business.
Some landlords — including the central and local governments — have begun to lower rent for their tenants, Jang said, citing as examples the Taiwan Railways Administration and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, which have vowed to cut rent by at least 25 percent.
Landlords should sympathize with tenants and reduce or delay rent payments, the party said.
Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation for Housing and Community Services CEO Lu Ping-yi (呂秉怡) said that for most tenants, rent is their largest expense, consuming about 30 to 50 percent of their income.
As a result, when problems with their jobs arise, rent becomes a heavy burden, he said.
Lu echoed the party’s call for landlords to lower rent for tenants from a “philanthropic” perspective.
It would not be easy for landlords to find new tenants for their properties under the current situation should existing ones leave because they cannot pay the full rent, he said.
Instead of spending months without rental income, landlords might as well cut rent by 20 to 30 percent, he added.
TPP Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that the government should set up a platform to help tenants struggling to pay rent due to a decrease in or loss of income negotiate rent deferrals with their landlords.
It should also ensure that when it lowers rent for businesses operating on publicly owned real estate, those cuts are extended to the businesses’ subtenants, she added.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS