President Ma Ying-jeou says that public housing units should be mixed in among privately owned housing. Ma was speaking at an architectural awards ceremony on Friday.
Ma said that if newly created public housing is concentrated in specific areas, those areas could attract a stigma, upsetting existing residents. He also said that the best solution is to place public and private housing side by side and avoid publicizing which is which.
Ma said that the Cabinet recently approved a long-term plan to increase the availability of public housing. According to Ma, there are 18,000 units under construction and a further 9,300 under consideration. He said that the number of public housing units in Taiwan is set to reach between 30,000 and 40,000 by the year 2023. That’s five times higher than the current total.
The government’s efforts to build more public housing are part of its response to skyrocketing property prices and real estate speculation in areas like Taipei.