Taiwan Today

The Ministry of the Interior released recently a three-year plan designed to make affordable housing more widely available. According to the plan, which passed an intra-agency review process Dec. 16, over the next three years the government will spend close to NT$8.8 billion (US$270 million) on several major housing projects. The plan calls for the government to appropriate roughly 1,290 hectares of land in Danshui Township and 277 hectares in Banchiao City. The government will then build new housing on the land acquired. In addition, the government will purchase and build houses on two plots of land located near a future subway line linking Taipei City and Taoyuan International Airport: 75 hectares near the future A7 (National Taiwan Sports University) station and 56 hectares between A9 (Linkou) and A10 (Shanbi) stations. These three plots of land will not only increase the supply of houses, they will also help bring about regional prosperity and help ease the exorbitant cost of housing in metropolitan areas, officials said. Besides building new housing on acquired lands, the MOI’s plan also calls on the government to release 818 public housing units already available to middle and low income residents. Those who are most in need will also be able to purchase the apartments at the cheapest prices. The selling of these units will also help alleviate housing difficulties, officials said. Finally, over the next three years the government will provide on an annual basis mortgage interest subsidies on 10,000 houses, home renovation cost subsidies on 5,000 houses, and rent subsidies for 24,000 families. These subsidies will be available to the poorest members of society who are most in need. Twenty-five thousand young families will also receive housing assistance from the government, according to the MOI’s plan. (PCT-HZW)