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.
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
FATE UNKNOWN: The owner of the dog could face a fine of up to NT$150,000 and the animal could be euthanized if he cannot show that he can effectively supervise it A pit bull terrier has been confiscated by authorities after it yesterday morning bit a motorcyclist in Taipei, following footage of the same dog in a similar attack going viral online earlier this month. When the owner, surnamed Hsu (徐), stopped at a red light on Daan District’s (大安) Wolong Street at 8am, the dog, named “Lucky,” allegedly rolled down the automatic window of the pickup truck they were riding in, leapt out of the rear passenger window and attacked a motorcyclist behind them, Taipei’s Daan District Police Precinct said. The dog clamped down on the man’s leg and only let go
RSS