Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government

Living problem is a complex result of Taipei for years. Taipei City Government adopted multi-policies, such as: setting up public housing, providing rent subsidy, implementing escrow subletting scheme for private own houses…etc. to solve the problems. According to the statistics for low paid (electricity) bill from Ministry of the Interior, R.O.C., the number of over-one-year idle houses is around 35 thousand. It is also one of the solutions to solve housing problem and strengthen renting market by encouraging private sector to rent the houses. After the revision of Housing Act in 2017, escrow subletting scheme for private own houses is also included in one of the channels for setting up public housing. Taipei City Government, thus, collaborated with central government and provided incentive scheme, escrow subletting scheme, to release 2,200 private own houses. On the other hand, the goal of setting 20,000 public housing is still undergoing.
Since the inauguration of Mayor, Ke, Wen-je, the sites for 20,000 public housing have been checked and 4-year term as well as the funding plan have been arranged. In the budget review process, City Council resolved that Taipei City Government should communicate with local citizens properly in 2015. There were 37 public housing public hearings and explanation sessions held at the neighborhood of each site to actively communicate with residents since February 2016. Nevertheless, there is a common stereotype for bad quality of rented public housing. Local citizens tend to against the project due to the impact of traffic and the reduction of quality of public facilities by introducing large number of population, which makes it even harder. After careful consideration for the feeling of residents and actual traffic problems, parts of sites reduce household number in response to current bulk volume, parts of them put off schedule for development and parts of them need to communicate with residents again. Thus, 20,000 public housing cannot go into operation before 2018. It is estimated there will be 12,247 households completed or under construction by the end of 2018.
Taipei City Government has managed to set “Minglun public housing in Tatung District”, “Qiyan public housing in Beitou district” in March and May this year. “Youth camping area public housing in Wanhua district” will be completed by the end of June and “Muzha public housing in Wensan district” will be set up in August. By the end of 2018, 28 sites will be under construction, which shows the goal to set up public housing of Taipei city Government in compliance with regulation of budget and to implement under public opinions step by step. The number of completion only reflects part of the efforts of Taipei City Government at each stage. The policy of public housing has its own continuity; nevertheless, it takes 2 to 4 years from design to complete. All the efforts during Mayor Ke’s service of setting up 20,000 public housing are attributed to the staff in Taipei City Government. Public housing policy will be continued and the resolution and promise of Taipei City Government to set up 20,000 public housing will remain the same.