The Housing Movement 2.0 yesterday vowed to push for legislative reform, with the support of lawmakers across party lines, after wrapping up a month-long pop-up exhibition to protest the rising cost of homeownership in Taipei.
The housing advocacy group has joined forces with like-minded lawmakers to push property tax reforms and legal protections for tenants and home buyers ahead of next year’s local elections and the 2024 presidential and legislative elections, it told a news conference.
Proposed property tax reforms are to include provisions for a tax on unoccupied residential properties, incentives for their sale or rent, and raising rental income tax, the group said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Protection for tenants and home buyers would include a mandate for the separate listing of buildings and amenities, and making a landlord-tenant law that includes an arbitration mechanism and penalties for infringing on consumer rights, it said.
The group’s pop-up exhibition, which ran from Jan. 5 to yesterday, revolved around a mock real-estate agency in downtown Taipei that advertises “deals” for tiny apartments with high price tags.
The agency’s name, “Celestial Dragons House,” is a reference to the fictitious ultra-privileged elite class that functioned as a backdrop to the hit manga series One Piece by Japanese creator Eiichiro Oda.
“Rent is a huge economic burden on young people,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌) said. “Saying that the problem is inherited does not excuse the government’s inaction.”
DPP Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said “the moment is right” to push for deeper housing reforms, adding that legislative efforts should focus on implementing affordable housing and taxing rent-derived income.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator and caucus whip Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said that housing justice campaigners are protesting the inequity of the nation’s real-estate market, which is “the most unfair in the world.”
“The TPP is in full agreement with the Housing Movement’s direction of reform... We will give our unreserved support to legislative efforts from any major party that has the courage to act,” he said.
TPP Legislator Tsai Pi-ru (蔡壁如) said that rising property prices have pushed young people out of the homeownership market and forced them to rely exclusively on rented properties, making the regulation of the real-estate industry an urgent issue.
“In 2019, about 1.02 million households in this country lived in rented units, and there are an estimated 2.68 million people renting an apartment right now, in addition to students,” she said. “The government has to take tenants’ rights seriously.”
“As the passage of regulations for verified real-estate values in the most recent legislative session suggests, reform is possible if the ruling party musters its will,” New Power Party Think Tank executive director Lee Chao-li (李兆立) was quoted by online outlet Newstalk as saying.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be