Cabinet approves plan to raise social housing to 1 million units by 2032

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) Taiwan's Cabinet approved Thursday a new plan to raise the supply of social housing to 1 million units across the country by 2032.

The 2025-2032 report on the promotion of social housing in Taiwan was presented by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) during a Cabinet meeting in the morning.

The country is on track to meet its target of 200,000 social housing units by the end of 2024, hitting the government's eight-year goal first introduced in 2017, according to the MOI report.

The new plan is to raise that number to 1 million units, including increasing the number of newly constructed homes to 250,000 and units under the "subleasing and management service system" to 250,000, the ministry said.

The system is a government-sponsored program in which landlords rent out units at different discounted rates, depending on whether they lease to tenants directly (with the help of government-commissioned agencies) or sublet via government-commissioned agencies.

According to the MOI, the goal of 1 million units also takes into account expanding the government's rent subsidy program to include more households.

Citing Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) at a press conference after Thursday's meeting, Cabinet spokesman Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said the interior ministry has been instructed to actively promote the implementation of relevant laws to obtain land for social housing.

Deputy Interior Minister Hua Ching-chun (花敬群), who was also at the press event, said the supply of 1 million social housing units will meet the demand of renters in Taiwan.

As the government aims to promote its large-scale social housing policy, land acquisition and preparation must start as early as possible, Hua said, indicating that such efforts could also involve amendments to relevant laws.

Based on the MOI report, the 250,000 newly-constructed social housing units will be designed with accessibility and inclusivity in mind, and will not only be located in the north, but also in other regions around Taiwan and offshore islands.