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.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese