The Taipei City Government is mistreating tenants under the city’s social housing policy and behaving like a “bad landlord,” the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
As a result of city oversight, tenants are needlessly mistreated and “pushed around” for political purposes, NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) told a news conference at the legislature.
NPP city councilor candidate Lin Po-hsun (林柏勛) said he received complaints from a Taipei resident in a social housing complex who was allotted a unit under the city’s Youth Innovation program.
Photo: CNA
Lin said the tenant was required to attend a certain number of events organized by the Taipei City Government to continue his lease.
“This person was approved for social housing due to his personal circumstances, but must face an ‘evil landlord’ that forced him to attend city-organized events during weekdays. It has severely affected his job and quality of life,” Lin said.
Joined by Chiu and NPP executive council member Lee Chao-li (李兆立), Lin said the Taipei government should stop using social housing residents to create an audience for policy presentations.
A Department of Urban Development official surnamed Lan (藍) allegedly told the resident to register at events to continue his lease, Lin said.
“This is a form of intimidation against residents of housing units under the Youth Innovation program,” Lin added.
“The resident was asked to participate in the recording of a television program, and when the segment was broadcast, he found it was an part of a government tourism advertisement campaign,” Lin said.
Qualification to reside in social housing should not be partisan, he added.
Chiu said he was angered to learn about the resident’s situation.
“The Taipei City Government is more malicious than some private landlords,” he said.
As social housing projects have received subsidies from the central government, officials at the Ministry of the Interior and the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center should condemn this contravention of housing rights, Chiu said.
He also said that a proposal by former Taipei deputy mayor and independent mayoral candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) to allow for social housing residents to purchase their units contravenes the Housing Act (住宅法).
“When government-built social housing is allowed to be sold, even when subsidized as affordable housing, property speculation is fueled and pushes up prices,” Chiu said, adding that this overall worsens affordability problems.
“Huang’s proposal is just creating a trap and shifting the problem to others. In Taipei, we need social housing only for lease, and to offer more living choices,” he added.
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS