Taipei, May 21 (CNA) A new social housing complex in Linkou District in New Taipei will open to applicants next month, with some of the units, originally built to accommodate athletes at the Taipei Universiade, reserved for newlyweds or people who are pregnant, a Ministry of the Interior (MOI) official said Monday.

The Linkou Athletes' Village was turned into a social housing complex with a total of 3,408 residential units only available for rent after the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei was held last August.

Lin Ching-lun (林慶倫), a division chief at the Construction and Planning Agency under the MOI, said the agency is planning to open 2,500 units for applications in early June in the first stage of releasing the housing to small families, young people and the socially disadvantaged.

As an incentive to encourage births in Taiwan's aging society, part of the Linkou social housing will be reserved for newlyweds or couples with women who are pregnant, Lin said, and rents for this group of renters will be lower than for other tenants.

More people are expected to apply for the Linkou units than there are units given the popularity of such public housing in other metropolitan areas. If that happens, a draw will be held, according to MOI officials.

According to MOI data, in similar situations in Taipei, only 5 percent of applicants were able to rent social housing units in draws held, and the ratio in Taichung has been around 11 percent.

(By Claudia Liu and Elizabeth Hsu)
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