The Housing Act (住宅法) needs to be amended to address soaring housing prices and a lack of land, which contribute to the problem of an inadequate number of social welfare housing units, lawmakers across party lines said yesterday.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) criticized the government’s policy of selling land, saying that such methods only drive housing prices up and result in an insufficient supply of social housing.
Such policies would create income in the short term, but inevitably undermine housing justice in the long run, he told a news conference held with Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) and Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Mach Ngoc Tran (麥玉珍)
Photo: Taipei Times file
The Housing Act should be amended so that existing policies for sectional expropriation and city rezoning would help increase the number of such housing units, and provide the public with safe and relatively affordable housing, Niu said.
Short-term profits should not blind the government, and it should instead make long-term plans, Mach said.
Urban renewal projects and land expropriation by sectors should set aside sufficient land for city governments to construct social welfare housing, she said.
The government’s land development policies have been unable to bring down housing prices and have resulted in more people being unable to afford housing, she said.
She urged the government to include social welfare housing in its rezoning policies and secure low-to-middle-income groups’ rights.
Organization of Urban Re-s secretary-general Peng Yang-kai (彭揚凱) at the news conference said previous social housing policies had limited effects, and limited land and slow constructions are the main challenges.
Peng said the act should be amended so that existing sectional expropriation and urban rezoning policies could be combined to ensure that social housing projects receive the necessary plots of land.
Land Administration Agent Association honorary president Lin Wang-ken (林望根) said that the amendments should clearly state that land development plans have to include social housing.
The amendments would allow local governments to have a legal basis to plan and build social welfare housing, he said.
Tropical depression TD22, which was over waters south of the Ryukyu Islands, is likely to develop into a tropical storm by this morning and pose a significant threat to Taiwan next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The depression is likely to strengthen into a tropical storm named Krathon as it moves south and then veers north toward waters off Taiwan’s eastern coast, CWA forecaster Hsu Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said. Given the favorable environmental conditions for its development, TD22’s intensity would reach at least typhoon levels, Hsu said. As of 2pm yesterday, the tropical depression was about 610km east-southeast of Taiwan proper’s
RESTRICTIONS: All food items imported from the five prefectures must be accompanied by radiation and origin certificates, and undergo batch-by-batch inspection The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday announced that almost all produce from five Japanese prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster would now be allowed into Taiwan. The five are Fukushima, Gunma, Chiba, Ibaraki and Tochigi. The only items that would still be blocked from being imported into the nation are those that are still banned from being circulated in Japan, the FDA added. With the removal of the ban, items including mushrooms, the meat of wild birds and other wild animals, and koshiabura” (foraged vegetables) would now be permitted to enter Taiwan, along with the other
A new tropical storm is expected to form by early tomorrow morning, potentially developing into a medium-strength typhoon that is to affect Taiwan through Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration said today. There are currently two tropical systems circulating to the east of Taiwan, agency forecaster Hsu Chung-yi (徐仲毅) said. The one currently north of Guam developed into Tropical Storm Gebi this afternoon and is expected to veer toward Japan without affecting Taiwan, Hsu said. Another tropical depression is 600km from the east coast and is likely to develp into the named storm Krathon either late tonight or early tomorrow, he said. This
Typhoon Krathon, a military airshow and rehearsals for Double Ten National Day celebrations might disrupt flights at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the first 10 days of next month, the airport’s operator said yesterday. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a statement that it has established a response center after the Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Krathon, and urged passengers to remain alert to the possibility of disruptions caused by the storm in the coming days. Flight schedules might also change while the air force conducts rehearsals and holds a final airshow for Double Ten National Day, it added. Although