The Taipei City Government is mistreating tenants under the city’s social housing policy and behaving like a “bad landlord,” the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
As a result of city oversight, tenants are needlessly mistreated and “pushed around” for political purposes, NPP Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) told a news conference at the legislature.
NPP city councilor candidate Lin Po-hsun (林柏勛) said he received complaints from a Taipei resident in a social housing complex who was allotted a unit under the city’s Youth Innovation program.
Photo: CNA
Lin said the tenant was required to attend a certain number of events organized by the Taipei City Government to continue his lease.
“This person was approved for social housing due to his personal circumstances, but must face an ‘evil landlord’ that forced him to attend city-organized events during weekdays. It has severely affected his job and quality of life,” Lin said.
Joined by Chiu and NPP executive council member Lee Chao-li (李兆立), Lin said the Taipei government should stop using social housing residents to create an audience for policy presentations.
A Department of Urban Development official surnamed Lan (藍) allegedly told the resident to register at events to continue his lease, Lin said.
“This is a form of intimidation against residents of housing units under the Youth Innovation program,” Lin added.
“The resident was asked to participate in the recording of a television program, and when the segment was broadcast, he found it was an part of a government tourism advertisement campaign,” Lin said.
Qualification to reside in social housing should not be partisan, he added.
Chiu said he was angered to learn about the resident’s situation.
“The Taipei City Government is more malicious than some private landlords,” he said.
As social housing projects have received subsidies from the central government, officials at the Ministry of the Interior and the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center should condemn this contravention of housing rights, Chiu said.
He also said that a proposal by former Taipei deputy mayor and independent mayoral candidate Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) to allow for social housing residents to purchase their units contravenes the Housing Act (住宅法).
“When government-built social housing is allowed to be sold, even when subsidized as affordable housing, property speculation is fueled and pushes up prices,” Chiu said, adding that this overall worsens affordability problems.
“Huang’s proposal is just creating a trap and shifting the problem to others. In Taipei, we need social housing only for lease, and to offer more living choices,” he added.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS