Independent Taipei mayoral candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday called her opponents’ proposals to lower rent for public housing “shortsighted.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Sunday announced his public housing policies, which include establishing 57,000 public housing units, reducing rent by 10 percent and offering a NT$1,500 monthly rent subsidy.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), who is the KMT’s mayoral candidate, last week said that married couples who have at least two children should receive priority consideration for public housing and be offered a 20 percent discount.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Huang, who resigned as Taipei deputy mayor on Saturday and announced her candidacy the following day, on Monday said that public housing should be operated sustainably.
While “giving out money or reducing rent is the easiest” method, it would bankrupt public housing, she said.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), head of the policy research task force in Chen’s campaign, on Monday evening on Facebook denied Huang’s claim, and called on her to explain her calculations or apologize.
Kuan questioned Huang’s contributions to housing justice in the city, writing that Taipei’s public housing policies deteriorated during the three years Huang was deputy mayor, including the suspension of public housing construction projects over the past two years.
Huang yesterday said that her opponents are not considering the costs of their proposals to reduce rent for public housing, which she called “shortsighted.”
She said that if they only focus on drumming up support and votes, while neglecting the long-term management and maintenance cost of public housing, then continuous spending would drain the budgets of other development or social programs.
The sustainable management of public housing needs fiscal planning, Huang said, adding that the housing fund should be self-liquidating, so rent subsidies should only be offered to underprivileged residents.
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