Special municipalities should reserve 5 percent of land for social welfare housing projects, while other cities and counties should reserve 3 percent, according to a measure approved by the Executive Yuan yesterday.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said that with the approval of the Measures to Promote Social Welfare Housing Policies and Increasing Usable Land for Housing Projects (推動社會住宅成果與提升社宅用地供給精進措施), the government aims to build 1 million social welfare housing units by 2031 and he had instructed the Ministry of the Interior to take charge of the policy.
Chen has also asked other ministries to work with the Ministry of the Interior on the measures, and has instructed the Ministry of the Interior to find legal bases to designate land exclusive for social welfare facilities.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Transit-oriented development and urban renewal projects should prioritize land or units reserved for social housing so the government’s goal of building social housing units can be met, the Ministry of the Interior said.
The government would also continue to offer its services to manage leases for landlords and use those houses as social housing, as well as its policies to provide subsidies for 500,000 individuals who are renting.
As of Nov. 30, the nation had built 91,189 social housing units — 46,732 units, or 51 percent, built by the central government and 44,457 units, or 49 percent, built by local governments — Minister of the Interior Lin You-chang (林右昌) said yesterday.
The number of units built by the central government had exceeded that built by local governments in just three years and the central government had built the units across the nation, including in outlying counties, he said.
He said that future construction projects by the central government would factor in actual living needs, the local population, industry development and distance to commute to work.
He said that the ministry is still inventorying public land nationwide and is planning to repurpose land that is not used to its full potential, including using old office buildings and shuttered schools for social housing projects.
Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Vice President William Lai (賴清德) had earlier pledged that if elected, he would see that the nation builds more than 1 million social housing units using various policies.
Over the past eight years, 200,000 social housing units have been added — 120,000 constructed by the government and 80,000 from government-sponsored leases, Lai said, adding that if elected, he would build an additional 130,000 units over the next eight years.
Lai said he also plans to expand government-sponsored leases to 170,000 units and increase the number of government subsidies to 500,000, which, on top of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy, would raise the total number of social housing units to 1 million.
Additional reporting by Hsu Yi-ping
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS