Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday urged landlords nationwide to reduce their rents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The global spread of the novel coronavirus has led to an increase in the number of people who are unemployed and has affected disadvantaged groups, the TPP legislative caucus told a news conference in Taipei.
Low-income families were already struggling before the pandemic, it said, adding that rent alone puts an enormous amount of pressure on those families.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Over the past few years, not only have property prices soared, but rent has also gone up “outrageously,” TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.
Now, in the midst of the crisis, many shop owners have found themselves unable to pay rent, he said, adding that some restaurants have already gone out of business.
Some landlords — including the central and local governments — have begun to lower rent for their tenants, Jang said, citing as examples the Taiwan Railways Administration and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, which have vowed to cut rent by at least 25 percent.
Landlords should sympathize with tenants and reduce or delay rent payments, the party said.
Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation for Housing and Community Services CEO Lu Ping-yi (呂秉怡) said that for most tenants, rent is their largest expense, consuming about 30 to 50 percent of their income.
As a result, when problems with their jobs arise, rent becomes a heavy burden, he said.
Lu echoed the party’s call for landlords to lower rent for tenants from a “philanthropic” perspective.
It would not be easy for landlords to find new tenants for their properties under the current situation should existing ones leave because they cannot pay the full rent, he said.
Instead of spending months without rental income, landlords might as well cut rent by 20 to 30 percent, he added.
TPP Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that the government should set up a platform to help tenants struggling to pay rent due to a decrease in or loss of income negotiate rent deferrals with their landlords.
It should also ensure that when it lowers rent for businesses operating on publicly owned real estate, those cuts are extended to the businesses’ subtenants, she added.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS