TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) clarified Wednesday that a 30,000-unit social housing construction target refers to projects jointly undertaken with local governments, after an advocacy group raised concerns that the government had drastically scaled back its goal from 130,000 units.
The Interior Ministry amended its “Assist a Million Renting Households” plan in July, prompting the Organization of Urban Re-s (OURs) and other groups to point out that the social housing construction target for 2025-2032 had been reduced from 130,000 units to 30,000, per PTS. The groups argued that social housing provides better protection for vulnerable people than rental management and rent subsidies, despite its higher upfront cost.
Liu initially said excessive social housing construction could result in more vacant housing units in the future. She noted that more than 600,000 housing units are currently vacant across Taiwan’s six major municipalities.
OURs held a news conference Sunday, saying the reduction in the social housing target would betray voter trust and abandon policies established under former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), per Liberty Times. The group said about 25,000 of the 30,000 planned units would continue projects initiated under Tsai, while the remaining target could be supplemented with rental subsidies or rental management units.
OURs added the central government planned to remove subsidies for local governments’ social housing projects while lowering the construction target, making it easier for local governments to meet their goals. The group called on the leaders of major municipalities to continue expanding social housing.
The advocacy group said that although social housing construction requires higher upfront costs, it provides longer leases, creates public assets, and offers greater protection for socially vulnerable groups than the alternatives.
Liu clarified that the 30,000-unit figure referred to projects jointly undertaken with local governments, per NOWNews. She said that if President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) remains in office for a second term, the government’s target over his two terms would remain at 130,000 units.
News of the reduced target and Liu’s initial comments drew criticism from opposition parties. Both the KMT and TPP echoed OURs’ concerns, accusing the Lai administration of backing away from its promises.
The New Power Party criticized the government for including rental management units and rent subsidies in its assisted housing goals, per Liberty Times. The party noted that each social housing project is legally required to reserve 40% of its units for disadvantaged groups, while private landlords face no such requirement.
The governments of Taichung, Taipei, New Taipei, and Tainan all said demand for social housing remained high, per UDN. New Taipei said slightly more than 10% of applicants for social housing would ultimately be able to secure a unit.
National Chengchi University Professor Chiang Ying-hui (江穎慧) questioned the government’s claims about the management of social housing units and the lack of available land as reasons for reducing the target, per UDN. She said the reduction from 130,000 to 30,000 units was too drastic to be considered reasonable and criticized the government for failing to provide transparency about the specific reasons behind the reduction.
OURs Secretary-General Peng Yang-kai (彭揚凱) said that when the central government asked local governments how many social housing units they could build over eight years, their assessment was at least 40,000 units. He warned that the outlook for these projects could be affected because the assessment was based on the assumption that local governments would receive subsidies.
Peng suggested that Lai was seeking to scale back his campaign promises before implementing them.
