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Enru Lin

The China Post

Publication Date : 12-03-2013

Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior (MOI) wants to convert old barracks and vacant school grounds into 3,000 affordable flats for fresh graduates by September.

The rental-only scheme will be available to young adults who graduated from college or university less than five years ago, said Interior Minister Lee Hong-yuan yesterday at the Legislative Yuan.

Lee was reporting at the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, where Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Mei-nu asked if the MOI is addressing the housing needs of economically and socially-underprivileged persons.

Lee responded that an estimated 190,000 households need social housing. The interior ministry currently underwrites a subsidy program and a renting platform for this demographic.

In addition, the MOI has commissioned architects to convert vacant barracks and school grounds into youth housing rentable at below-market rates. The MOI hopes to launch two pilot programs of 1,000 and 2,000 units each within the next six months.

If the program succeeds, it can be expanded and will help ease the current pressure on mainstream public housing projects.

Lee said the launch date “is not entirely up to the interior ministry,” as the project also involves the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Defense and local governments.

The MOI is currently in active negotiations with related agencies over the pilot project, said Lee, who added he will report shortly to Premier Jiang Yi-huah.