Affordability of social housing for youth in greater Taipei: justice for whom?

Abstract

This policy review examines the new social housing policy implementation in Taipei and New Taipei City. This policy specifically targets young adults since the problem of housing affordability is perceived as an intergenerational question. This study examines the affordability of social housing apartments for different income groups and demonstrates that middle- to average-income households benefit most from living in the social housing. As a consequence this policy potentially jumpstarts the housing careers of middle-class youth, while the needs of low-income and disadvantaged families are under addressed. The reasons for the focus on ‘Generation Rent’ are discussed, as well as the cultural context of intra-generational wealth sharing in Taiwan. Furthermore, the social housing apartments are compared with options in the private rental market in terms of size and affordability. The results show that the government provides a segment of housing options, through social housing, that is currently absent in the private rental market. Lastly, the effect of this policy on the transformation of the housing market is discussed and found to be insufficient, because the narratives of commodified housing and the cultural value of ownership as an achievement in life are not challenged.

KEYWORDS:

• Intergenerational wealth gap
• housing justice
• housing pathways
• Generation Rent
• public housing
• Taiwan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The formula used for the calculation of the rent-to-income ratio is as follows: Rent-to-income ratio = Rent price / (1.5 * (maximum household income for this specific tenant group)). The multiplication number of 1.5 is derived from the Report on the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure, 2017 (Executive Yuan Directorate-General of Budget Accounting & Statistics, 2018), which states that in a household in Taiwan on average 1.46 people are employed.

2 The rent price of social housing apartments is calculated using the average private rent price per ping in the surrounding neighbourhood. However, as Taiwan’s private rental market is unregulated and informal, the data from registered private rental companies overestimates the actual rent price average.

3 As New Taipei City does not separate a priority 3 income group, the data in figure 2 for the income group ‘priority 3 lower end’ and ‘priority 3 higher end’ only reflect the situation in Taipei City.

4 In table 2 cells shaded in grey indicate only ‘similar’ or ‘higher price’ housing options are available in the private rental market. For the general tenant group cheaper options are available in the private rental market, while for the priority 2 tenant group these options are absent.