Secretariat, Taipei City Government

On March 15, Mayor Chiang Wan-an attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Songxin Social Housing. 

During his address, Chiang pointed out that building more social housing is the long-term policy of the city government. The beginning of the construction here symbolizes another milestone for the City’s public housing policy. 

According to the mayor, the Songxin Social Housing comprises an 11-story-tall building with 3 basement floors. There will be a total of 90 units in the completed edifice, including 3 different layouts spanning 1-room units to 3-room units. The project will also incorporate accreditations for the building in areas such as green building, smart building, seismic-resilience, hoping to realize the vision of a sustainable city. 

He stressed that in the implementation of housing policies, he is more concerned about the quality and safety of the units than the actual number of social housing projects. He emphasized the safety and quality of the building and stressed the need to optimize related SOPs. In addition to strengthening quality control management and supervision of construction work, the process of acceptance examination and structure inspection of the finished product must be fully implemented as well. 

The mayor also reminded the audience that over 72-percent of buildings in Taipei are at least 30 years old. To promote urban renovations, city-backed urban regeneration efforts include 7,599 projects and the “Five Arrows” action plan. Hopefully, through methods such as easing regulations, lowering certain limits, and utilizing early government intervention, massive and extensive urban regeneration will become a goal that is more attainable.

Chiang remarked that there are more public housing projects in store for the future. These include “Senior-Youth Housing Swap” plan, which is being carried out for the Youth Housing Phase 1 at Dongming Social Housing in Nangang District. By upgrading the units with specialized home accessories such as automative aids, handles, and accessible furniture, the city government hopes to attract senior citizens to move into modern units with access to elevators. Meanwhile, their original homes can be refurbished and leased out to youths at an affordable price. This will allow young people and young families to find places with affordable rents while the elders can live in a safer and more accessible environment. 

Plans for such types of improvements are underway, with possible candidates being Donghu Social Housing, Tanmei Elementary School Social Housing, Chia Thai Hsing Social Housing, and Xinqiyan Social Housing.