Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday announced that the city government is planning to create 7,000 new social housing units, but refused to sign a letter of commitment to work toward the goal of providing 50,000 social housing units when pressed by Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) city councilors.
The city government said in a presentation that it would add 7,000 social housing units during Chiang’s first mayoral term, which ends in 2026, but several city councilors accused him of “painting a rosy picture” without explaining how the plan can be achieved.
Chiang said that more than 4,000 units were built and construction began on 10,332 units during former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) two mayoral terms, so he expects to start construction on more than 2,000 units and complete more than 7,000 during his first term.
Photo: CNA
Asked by TPP Taipei City Councilor Huang Ching-ying (黃?瑩) where the 7,000 units would be located, Chiang said there are many ways to solve housing issues, such as rent subsidies or subletting and lease management programs.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun (陳怡君) asked whether the plan to allocate 7,000 units was only a vague “rosy picture.”
As only 1,000 of them would be covered by government-led urban renewal projects, Chen asked where the remaining 6,000 units would be located.
Land is difficult to obtain for the construction of new social housing, but the city government would try to acquire it by offering a building bulk ratio bonus and focusing transit-oriented development, among other methods, Chiang said.
TPP city councilors Huang, Chang Chih-hao (張志豪), Nicole Lin (林珍羽) and Chen You-cheng (陳宥丞) presented Chiang with a letter of commitment asking him to promise to complete the units that were planned during Ko’s administration, and to work toward his goal of creating 50,000 units.
However, the mayor refused to sign the letter, saying that he had already made the promise and that they can discuss the issue further.
The TPP city councilors chanted “promises before the election, but chickening out after the election.” during the council session.
Their letter said that “the Taipei Mayor should sign ... to show his determination to realize his policy promises, and not chicken out.”
Taipei City Government spokesperson Yin Wei (殷瑋) said Chiang publicly said that the city government would work to achieve the goal of 50,000 new social housing units, so the city councilors did not need to use the term “chickening out” for political gain.
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