housing is one of the most important issues in modern societies. It is a core issue that governments must deal with, but for several decades successive governments in Taiwan have failed on this issue. As well as being a basic human need, housing is related to national development, land use and policies, income distribution, government-business relations, social class, human rights, cultural shifts, sustainable cities and so on. Unequal access to housing is a result of many social problems.
The housing policies governments propose give us a glimpse of how they view people’s rights, and of their ability to provide a vision of life in the future. In the past, governments have equated the housing problem with the housing market. They have promoted the distorted phenomena of commoditization and luxurification of housing. Now Taiwan is seeing the warning signs as the “alliance of shell-less snails” re-emerges after a 20-year hiatus. Government officials have responded by repeating the mantra of “fostering a sound market,” while seeking to slip out of their own responsibilities and ignoring the market’s failings. This approach cannot assuage the anxiety felt by many members of the public. This raises several points worthy of discussion.
First, the authorities would be unwise to see the “shell-less snails” as representing just a minority, or a point of view confined to northern Taiwan. It should be recognized that the housing problem is a diverse and pervasive issue. Whatever different features the housing problem may have in different places, and whether big or small communities are involved, the main thing is that housing rights are fundamentally and closely linked to many other kinds of rights. In Taiwan, Aborigines’ housing needs are the most obvious sore point.
Following the floods caused by Typhoon Morakot in August, the process of resettling and reconstructing Aboriginal villages has been like an enchanted mirror highlighting the longstanding uncaring attitude of the current and preceding governments to social minorities, their culture and social ties, as well as to land planning and the social significance of housing rights, as well as their incompetence in dealing with these issues.
Second, housing policy reform should not be clumsily simplified in terms of suppressing the housing market. Sharing social benefits does not necessarily mean twisting the arms of the rich. To exaggeratedly interpret reasonable demands for meeting the public’s need for housing as encroaching on people’s property is to limit housing policy and associated problems within the bounds of a market economy viewpoint, without giving any thought to other possibilities. Handing limited land resources over to be manipulated through competition and one-sidedly encouraging real estate businesses that favor big, wealth-flaunting projects is to abandon government’s responsibility for putting a check on inappropriate planning and development under free-market forces. That can only create unending urban problems, and governments will suffer the consequences of their own actions.
In view of this, our first suggestion is to set aside illusions about giving free rein to market forces and expecting a robust market to solve the problem. The housing situation reflects the dominant social forces of the time. The stress these days is on building luxury homes and market competition pervades. It is time to get back to the level of human needs and to think about the complicated nature of housing.
The government should stress diversity in housing, and it should protect rent-paying tenants of all kinds from being eliminated by market forces and help them to overcome barriers and discrimination, so that they can regain the right to seek quality rented homes. The government should even consider reviving the provision of publicly owned rental accommodation.
The right to a home is a reflection of social relations, including relations of culture and production. In recognition of all the different kinds of families, the government should affirm the existence of mixed use and make regulations to support it. This applies especially to the existence of different grades of housing within local communities, with people from different social classes living within the same diverse neighborhoods. The trend toward uniformity of housing in particular localities should be avoided.
The diverse requirements for housing among people living in Taiwan can be gradually resolved by insisting that developers engage in mixed projects and by keeping their profits at a reasonable level. This could cultivate a sufficiently diverse and sustainable house-building sector, and, at the same time as bringing about an inspiring urban living environment, it would also uphold social equity.
In recent years Western academics researching urban issues have become more and more interested in Asian cities, with their variety and complicated community structure. These are the realities of our cities. A progressive mindset and cultural viewpoint and respect for social changes and diversity are essential in formulating policies that match changes in the natural and social environment and respond to living realities.
Shane Lee is a master’s student and Liu Ke-chiang a professor in the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning at National Taiwan University. Both are members of the organizing committee of the Social Housing Research Center.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017