The government is promoting a social housing policy to meet the housing needs of young people and the disadvantaged, which will not only help achieve housing justice but also build a sound residential home market. The end of 2024 will see the fulfillment of an eight-year (2017-2024) policy objective to increase the supply of social housing by 200,000 units (including 120,000 newly constructed homes and 80,000 units subleased from private owners or managed on their behalf).
Moving forward, the government will implement a 2025-2032 program to support 1 million renter households (including 250,000 newly constructed social housing units and 250,000 subleased or managed units over the eight-year period, as well as rent subsidies provided annually for 500,000 homes), which will more swiftly fulfill the housing needs of renters and young people, and substantially ease the burden of housing costs.
Concrete actions
■ The Housing Act has been amended to provide a legal basis for promoting the social housing policy. In accordance with the act, the central government also assists local governments with land acquisition, financing, taxation issues and the formation of implementation teams.
■ State-owned land or buildings not designated for public use may now be leased on a long-term basis or utilized without remuneration. Land owned by the Ministry of National Defense may also be used for social housing purposes. These measures have created more avenues for local governments to acquire land and resources.
■ To alleviate the financial burden on local governments, a social housing financing service platform has been created as a means of providing local governments with low-interest, long-term loans for social housing projects.
■ The subleasing and management services system offers below-market rent rates for lower-income households, disadvantaged groups, and workers and students in need of housing, and encourages landlords to join the system by offering concessions on house tax, land value tax and income tax, thus expanding housing access. The government is also promoting an NT$30 billion (US$938.2 million) expanded rent subsidy program (2022-2026) to comprehensively ease the burden of rentals for young singles, newlyweds, childrearing households, and socially or economically disadvantaged households.
■ The National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center has been established to help the central government apply business principles to running social housing projects.
■ To create quality residences that people can appreciate, social housing units are incorporating green and smart technologies, seismic-code standards, and accessibility features for people with disabilities. The homes are also linked to community child care and long-term care facilities.