The supply of public housing is expected to reach nearly 100,000 units by 2029, with one-fifth reserved for newlyweds and families, as officials seek to address the challenges of affordable housing and a low birthrate, the Ministry of the Interior said on Sunday.
About 60,000 new public housing units are expected to be completed nationwide by 2029, bringing the total to nearly 100,000 when added to the 36,000 units already completed, data from the ministry’s Real Estate Information Platform showed.
A portion of the housing would be reserved for families as part of efforts to boost the birthrate, the ministry said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The number of newborns in Taiwan has been less than 200,000 for eight consecutive years since 2017, ministry data showed.
The crude birth rate — the number of live births per 1,000 people per year — has been below 10 since 2004, the data showed.
Last year, about 134,800 births were recorded, or a crude birth rate of 5.76 — a record low since data collection began.
Taiwan’s low birthrate stems from multiple factors, including wage structures, housing policies and changing life attitudes, a source said, citing surveys.
“It has become increasingly common for young Taiwanese not to marry, while even among those who do marry, many hesitate over whether to have children,” the source said. “Newlyweds often face the difficult choice of either having children or buying a home.”
The government should stabilize housing supply and improve wage structures, they said.
As part of a policy to stabilize housing, the government would designate 20 percent of public housing as “family housing,” giving priority to newlyweds and families with children, the ministry said.
From next year to 2028, the central government plans to open 41,000 new public housing units for rent, it said, adding that by the end of that period, it would manage more than 45,000 rental units, becoming Taiwan’s largest landlord.
“About 9,000 units are to be reserved for newlyweds and families with children, bringing the total number of family housing units to about 11,000 when combined with units built previously,” it said.
Colliers International Taiwan director Huang Shu-wei (黃舒衛) said that with the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center to be the nation’s largest landlord, its responsibilities would extend beyond management of the number of units.
Each public housing complex functions as an independent community, requiring effective operations, facility management, equipment maintenance and coordination of social welfare services, Huang said.
Support services include things such as childcare, after-school programs and school zoning, the provision of which would be a major challenge, he said.
Improving such services to build a social safety net has long been an underdeveloped area in national policy and urban planning, he added.
Separately, housing researcher Ho Shih-chang (何世昌) said that increasing the supply is only the first step of an effective public housing policy.
The next step would be to “ensure sound management,” Ho said.
“As the number of public housing units expands, disputes and administrative challenges will follow, and the demand for management personnel will surge,” he said. “The government should plan ahead to address these issues.”
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