LEE Yungran

 

Abstract: Protection of the right to housing is necessary for housing justice and satisfies the demand for adequate housing under international human rights conventions. This paper compares legal protections of the housing right in Taiwan and mainland China, highlighting basic principles in Taiwan’s Housing Act and its problems. Taiwan’s legislation may shed light on relevant legislation of mainland China.

 

Keywords: right to housing, mainland China, Taiwan

 

 

To know more about the thoughts of people in Taiwan about the priority that should be given by the Taiwan government to the handling of administration programs, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission under the Executive Yuan of Taiwan carried out a voting campaign on the Internet in 2009, known as “Ten Popular Discontents.” Results from the survey indicated that the top three discontents among Taiwanese people were: “housing prices in metropolitan areas are excessively high,” “telephone and Internet fraud has run riot” and “it is hard to find jobs and unemployment prevails.” Of all the discontents, “excessively high housing prices” ranked at the top.

 

The reason for this situation was a higher price-to-income ratio resulting from the fact that housing prices rose too much while wages remained unchanged. In addition, all price statistics were provided by proprietors; thus, the asymmetry in housing information turned the public into a disadvantaged group in terms of information, thus causing opacity in the housing market, which was unfavorable to house buyers.[page]

 

For this reason, the Taiwan government has begun to pay attention to the rationality of housing prices. According to the housing policy of the government, apart from the introduction of housing suited to different income groups, the government has also strengthened the collection of real estate taxes and luxury taxes have been introduced under such circumstances.

 

On May 20, 2014, the Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou made a speech on the 6th anniversary of his tenure in office, focusing on the topic of “Heeding the Aspirations of Youth and Realizing Justice for Generations,” to respond to the issues presented by young people. He pointed out that “the justice of housing will be realized at an accelerated pace to let youth afford to live in Taiwan.” The government expects to implement the development of public land and introduce private funds to ameliorate income distribution problems and reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. Moreover, assistance and care will be particularly given to the financially disadvantaged so as to enable youth and low-income people to gain access to good living conditions in metropolitan areas.

 

Thanks to reform and opening up, some people on the Chinese Mainland have become well-off first. In recent years, the gap between the rich and the poor has been widening gradually on the Mainland, where “housing affordability” has also become a public issue. How will people’s right of housing be guaranteed? This is a common issue facing Taiwan and Mainland China. Because the gap between the rich and the poor is too wide, the poor have no place to live, thus disrupting social harmony. Only by guaranteeing the right of housing for the people so that “everyone has a home to live in” can the confrontation between the rich and the poor be eliminated.[page]

 

 

Firstly, we need to examine the “Justice of Housing” to know why people’s right to housing needs to be guaranteed.

 

The justice of impartiality and the justice of housing, two aspects of the right of housing comprise the “Justice of Housing”: ¹

 

 

(1) Distributive justice centers on properly distributing good items among people, such as wealth, power, reward and respect, etc. 

 

(2) Retributive justice centers on responding to evildoing.

 

 

Justice of housing should at least conform to the impartiality of housing, namely, in modern society, everyone should be treated equally and live in dignity irrespective of his or her gains, physical and mental function, sex, age, family traits and ethnic culture; that is to say, there should be no people who have no place to stay, or live in homes worse than the lowest residential standards.[page]

 

What is called the “Justice of Housing” should comprise two main goals:

 

(1) Improve the housing market and curbing the drastic rise of housing prices to enable ordinary families to rent, purchase or change homes under a reasonable distribution of burden.

 

(2) Initiate social housing and give subsidies to the disadvantaged to protect basic housing rights and the interests of youth and the disadvantaged living at the bottom of society.

 

 

Let’s talk about the “right of housing” in the wake of the “impartiality of housing.”

 

In fact, citizens’ right of housing, as a basic human right, was internationally defined in the early days. International conventions define it as the “right to housing” or the housing right or the right to adequate housing. As stipulated in Article 13, Section 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.” The “right to freedom of residence” mentioned herein refers to a place to stay spatially, a status of living permanently in a certain place in contrast to that of movement, and protection of this right is an important content of personal freedom.

 

Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights explains that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services.” It refers to the right to housing (or the housing right) in a basic human rights sense.

 

As is pointed out in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, “all peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources . . . In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.”[page]

 

Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights prescribes that “the States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.”

 

In 1991, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations published CESCR General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing, Article 1 of which prescribes that “the human right to adequate housing, which is thus derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, is of central importance for the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.” The right to adequate housing mentioned herein refers to the housing security that must be provided for existence.
 

The Declaration of Human Right to Housing also clarifies that “it is the basic human right for all residents to have residences with good environments and suitable for human settlement.”²

 

 

The “Right of Housing” has rich connotation and its meaning varies in the field of public laws, such as international covenants, constitutions and administrative laws, as well as in the field of private laws like property law. The right of housing and the right to adequate housing can be expounded in three aspects:³[page]

 

 

Generally speaking, the right of housing possesses a syndrome of meanings, of which the major concept implies that the “right of housing” is one of human rights and a social security and welfare system and, the concept that the freedom of housing and that of movement are equivalent, and the right of housing is regarded as leased property and as the right of abode given in international immigration law, etc. Therefore, the right of housing is understood in both a narrow and broad sense, namely:

 

(1) The right of housing in a narrow sense: It is a private right, which refers to the right enjoyed by the person of the right of housing to occupy and use others’ houses and their attachments.

 

(2) The right of housing in a broad sense: When the right of housing is sometimes defined as a private right, a public right, a welfare right, or when it is defined as a human right, or even as other types of rights, then the right of housing is viewed as a right in a broad sense. Therefore, from the viewpoints of public right, human right and right of abode, then recognition of the right of housing should be taken into account in terms of the right to adequate housing.

 

The right of housing in international covenants and constitutions is much different from the right of housing described in property law in terms of the scope of application. In international covenants, the right of housing is a basic human right demanding to be recognized and protected by states parties, where the subject of application is the states; in constitutions regarded as a guarantee of civil rights, the right of housing is mainly used to adjust the housing property relations between the state and citizens in an effort to protect the housing rights of citizens from being infringed by public rights and other people. The right of housing in property law is used to adjust the relationships concerning the usufructuary rights to houses among equal civil subjects.[page]

 

 

Given the justice of housing, the right of housing is not only centered on the ownership of real estate but on further defending the “right to adequate housing.”

 

According to the No. 4 and No. 7 General Comments of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted by the United Nations Assembly on December 16, 1966, put into effect on January 3, 1976 and promulgated in 1991, what is called “the right to adequate housing” refers to the right enjoyed by everyone to live at a place in peace, safety and dignity. In other words, a country has the obligation to not only let everyone have a home to live in but live in peace and contentment. In addition, even if some people lack ownership of a certain piece of land, his right to adequate housing can still not be infringed upon. On the whole, the “right to adequate housing” is a basic right overriding the right of ownership.

 

The relevant connotation of the “right to adequate housing" is mainly seen in Article 11, Section 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which reads “everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family”; whereas the General Comment No. 4 promulgated in 1991 to interpret Article 11 Section 1 indicates clearly in its first paragraph that “the human right to adequate housing, which is thus derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, is of central importance for the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights.”

 

Additionally, the General Comment No. 4 expressly points out that the “right to adequate housing” applies to “everyone” (paragraph 6); and that the right to housing should not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with, for example, the shelter provided by merely having a roof over one’s head or views shelter exclusively as a commodity. Rather it should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity (paragraph 7). From this viewpoint, so long as the “right to use” is available, notwithstanding the variety of forms of tenure, including lease, owner-occupation, informal settlements, and so on, such a right should be protected to a certain extent (paragraph 8 (a)).[page]

 

The significant evolution of the right to adequate housing in the past 10 years aims to gradually combine the right to adequate housing with the right to return, namely, the right to return to original homes, land and property. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ensures that the right to adequate housing is a basic human right. In view of the development and trends in contemporary international human rights law, the right to adequate housing should not be interpreted in a narrow and restrictive sense by merely providing a roof over one’s head, and be understood as viewing shelter as a commodity. Rather, it should be seen as the right to live in security and dignity.

 

 

Taiwan and Chinese mainland show different views on housing policy and on how to realize the ideal of “everyone has house to live in.” After the “Justice of Housing” and the “Right of Housing” are interpreted, let’s first touch upon the security housing policy in China.

 

Although China is a socialist country, it still places the “right of housing” in a prominent position and brought it into the Housing Security Law at the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress.

 

Although legislation for the Housing Security Law remains uncompleted, there already are housing security measures on the Chinese mainland, which include: 

 

 

Among security housing policies implemented on the Chinese mainland, we first refer to “economically affordable housing,” abbreviated as “affordable housing.” The government provides policy preferences for this kind of housing. These houses are built according to reasonable standards, with limited “dwelling sizes” and “sales prices.” They are supplied to urban low-income families that have difficulties in housing. This is a security-related housing policy. In the Circular on Continuously, Actively and Prudently Carrying Out the Reform of the Urban Housing System promulgated in June 1991, the State Council demanded that “major efforts be devoted to developing economically affordable commercial housing and giving priority to providing housing to homeless families and families having difficulties in housing.”⁴ The area of an affordable home should be around 60 square meters. (See the first paragraph of Article 15 of the Mainland’s Measures for the Administration of Economically Affordable Housing).[page]

 

 

Now we talk about “low-rent housing.” Low-rent housing in urban areas refers to “rent subsidies” or “security-related housing” provided by the government (unit) at “low rent” to the “minimum-income families with non-agricultural permanent residence in urban areas” and to “other special families in need of security.” This is part of the government (unit)’s efforts to exercise its social security functions in the housing sector. One of the rectification measures put forward at the executive meeting of the State Council held on May 17, 2006 to adjust the real estate market expressly demanded that all localities accelerate the construction of an “urban low-rent housing system,” standardize and develop “economically affordable housing” and help overcome difficulties step by step for “low-income families.”⁵ According to the first paragraph of Article 5 of the Mainland's Low-Rent Housing Security Measures, the security focuses on linking “monetary subsidies” with “physical distribution.” Details are as follows:

 

(1) Monetary subsidies: The subsidies are determined according to the difference between the floor area possessed by the urban low-income family and the security-based area as well as the rent per square meter.

 

(2) Renting government-managed housing: The rental area is the difference between the floor area possessed by the urban low-income family having difficulty in housing and the security-based area (See the Mainland’s Article 7, Section 1 and Article 8, Section 1 of Low-Rent Housing Security Measures).

 

 

Now let’s talk about “low-cost commercial housing,” abbreviated as “low-cost housing,” also known as “housing with two limits.” Upon approval by the urban people’s governments, on the basis of limiting the “dwelling size” and the “sales price,” real estate developers will be invited to participate in bids for housing projects through competition for land and housing prices, and the bid winners will start construction according to agreed standards and will sell “medium- and low-priced and medium- and small-sized commercial houses” to eligible dwellers. Due to the limit of land and housing prices, such houses are called “housing with two limits.” The low-cost housing policy is unlike the affordable housing policy, yet they both are an important content of the urban housing security system in the Chinese mainland. Take Beijing as an example.⁶ The city has rolled out Measures of Beijing Municipality for the Administration of Low-Cost Commercial Housing (for trial implementation) to serve as the basis for promoting such a policy.[page]

 

 

Now let’s come to the topic of “public rental housing.” Seven departments of the Chinese mainland, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, have jointly formulated the Instructional Views on Accelerating the Development of Public Rental Housing, in the hope that public rental housing can be developed at an accelerated pace and the construction of security-oriented comfortable housing projects can be facilitated in line with national conditions so as to meet the basic housing needs of the people.⁷ Take Beijing as an example. The city has thereby rolled out the Measures of Beijing Municipality for the Administration of Public Rental Housing. Article 2, Section 2 of the Measures defines “public rental housing” as housing that receives government policy support, has limited dwelling size, and will be rented at limited rental rates to a prescribed group of people, i.e. “middle- and low-income families having difficulties in housing” in Beijing.

 

 

Shantytowns are urban built-up areas, also known as “villages in urban areas,” where bungalows are densely scattered and are used for a long time. In those areas, the quality of the houses is poor, per-capita floor area is small, supporting infrastructure facilities are incomplete, transportation facilities are inconvenient, public security and fire fighting show serious inadequacy and the environmental sanitation is bad and messy. Providing adequate housing by transforming shantytowns is one of the urban physical housing security reforms.

 

 

Housing funds are long-term savings deposited by workers of state organs, state-owned enterprises, urban collectively owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, urban private enterprises and other types of urban enterprises, institutions, private non-enterprise organizations, social organizations as well as by other incumbent workers. The Housing Fund Administration Regulations was promulgated in the Chinese mainland in 1999.[page]

 

 

Now we will talk about what has been done in Taiwan to bring the guarantee of people’s right of housing into practice. 

 

Regarding the principle of “Justice of Housing,” Taiwan aims to establish an overall housing policy in line with social justice, reduction of people’s housing burden, construction of urban and rural environments expressing an aesthetic feeling and the concept of sustainability and improvement of people’s housing conditions. Particulars are as follows: 

 

 

(1)Persistently handling “Implementation Plan for Integrating Housing Subsidy Resources,” “Care-free Youth Marriage Plan” and “Preferential Housing Purchase Loans for Youth Marriage,” and offering rent subsidies, loan interest subsidies for the purchase of housing and loan interest subsidies for the renovation of houses. 

 

(2)Not increasing taxes on self-use houses and reasonably adjusting the proclaimed price of land and current appraised value of housing.

 

 

(1) Constructing agreeable social dwelling houses, alleviating housing problems in districts where an imbalance in housing supply and demand occurs and helping people to live in agreeable residential quarters.

 

(2) Facilitating the construction of houses in a specified period of time and levying taxes on idle land where houses can be yet have not been built and where housing prices are on the high side; expediting the development of the outskirts of the metropolitan areas and increasing housing land supplies.[page]

 

 

(1) Setting up a real price registration system for real estate trading.

 

(2) Gradually setting up real price taxes for the establishment of the real price registration system.

 

(3)Popularizing specialized operations and assisting the real estate rental service industry in specialized operations and setting up a database for concluded deals.  

 

 

(1)Ensuring that land requisition is for the public good and necessary, and enhancing the protection of fine farmland.

 

(2)Establishing a compensation system for justice-based land requisition and specifying that purchases be made at negotiated prices and compensation be made at market prices. 
 

 

(1)Accelerating the improvement of metropolises and giving assistance in verifying and implementing more than 25 improvement cases each year to improve housing conditions in metropolitan areas.

 

(2) Promoting the creation of landscapes reflecting the images of indigenous peoples and, facilitating the sustainable development of tribes by shaping cultural scenes and landscapes, building traditional residential houses and enhancing the sense of identity and distinctiveness among indigenous tribes.

 

(3) Balancing cultural development in urban and rural areas, activating the use of performing venues, assisting county (municipal) governments to enrich cultural facilities, so as to increase the total number of people participating in artistic and literary activities by more than 30 percent; facilitating the establishment of 20 demonstration points for integrating cultural assets with the historical environment and formulating aesthetics plans to add more beauty to the living space and the environment.[page]

 

 

 

In view of the imbalance in housing supply and demand, excessively fluctuating prices and the scarcity of housing market information, people in Taiwan have set much hope on improvement of living conditions and housing demands. As a result, upon the third reading by the Legislative Yuan, the Housing Act was adopted on December 13, 2011 and was published on December 30 of the same year. Article 1 of this act specifies the intent “to improve the housing market, enhance housing quality and enable all people to live in agreeable houses and to enjoy living conditions in dignity.” In the spirit of defending the basic human rights of citizens and by combining government and nongovernmental resources, under the plan of improving the housing market and creating agreeable housing quality, people should all be entitled to possess agreeable and dignified living conditions according to their income level, physical and mental function, sex, age, family composition and ethnic culture.

 

The Housing Act has seven chapters in all. Chapter 1 is about the “general provisions,” revealing the legislative intention, division of powers and responsibilities of competent authorities at various levels and procedures for formulation and deliberation of housing plans. Chapter 2 is about the “housing subsidy," specifying the types of housing subsidy, subsidy-application conditions, subsidy-handling modes and regular examination and verification mechanisms. Chapter 3 is about “social housing,” relating to ways to gain access to “social housing,” examination and approval procedures, encouragement and preferences to nongovernmental initiators, operation and management, charges and termination of tenancy. Chapter 4 is about “housing quality,” specifying the basic dwelling level and housing performance evaluation system as well as subsidy- or reward-promoted improvement of housing quality and environment. Chapter 5 is about the “housing market,” specifying collection of housing market information and other related information, as well as market regulation measures to be taken by regions where an imbalance in housing supply and demand occurs. Chapter 6 is about the “equality of the right of housing,” specifying “housing discrimination” cases, complaint appeal and handling mechanisms and related penalties. Chapter 7 is about “supplementary articles,” specifying that the application of relevant public property management decrees is excluded when competent authorities dispose of public land and structures, set burdens on them or lease them for a period of more than 10 years; it also specifies the follow-up handling measures for original government housing subsidies.[page]

 

 

(1) Providing housing subsidies to the disadvantaged. In order to assist families or individuals living under certain income or asset thresholds to gain access to habitable houses, the government shall, according to its financial conditions, provide “subsidies for housing loan interest, rent or renovation fees,” including “loan interest on self-built houses,” “loans for self-purchase of houses,” “house rental cost,” “loan interest on house renovation” and “fees for simple renovation of houses,” etc.⁸

 

(2) Initiating social housing. What is called “social housing” refers to housing projects initiated by the government or by private sectors under government encouragement, used especially for rental, with at least 10 percent of such housing provided to “people with special conditions or status”⁹; the government must build on its own or encourage the private sector to build “social housing.”¹⁰

 

(3) Enhancing the development of the housing market. The government should gather and analyze information about housing supply and demand, land use, finance, market and transaction prices and other related information on a regular basis, and should publish housing and real property statistics and indexes at regular intervals.¹¹

 

(4) Safeguarding the fair exercise of the right of housing. Now that “housing” is a basic human right, the government must ensure that everyone enjoys the right of housing on a fair basis and is not treated discriminatorily;¹² if the “house user” does any of the following things, no one should refuse or obstruct them:

 

 (a) making renovation to the housing or public space at his own expense;

 

 (b) breeding guide dogs to help the visually disabled;

 

 (c) Legally using the space, facilities and related services of the “exclusively owned part” of the house and of the “commonly owned part.”¹³

 

 

(1)To put under the rule of law that “social housing” should not be sold but should be for rent only. As prescribed in the Housing Act, the government shall initiate or encourage the private sector to initiate “social housing” projects on the principle that such houses are “not for sale but for rent only,” and provide at least 10 percent of such housing to those with special conditions or status, including such disadvantaged groups as low-income households, families with special conditions, those who have at least three minor children, people 65 years of age or older, the physically and mentally disturbed and those who suffer from domestic violence. The implementation of the Housing Act is a social welfare policy.

 

(2) To provide housing subsidies. The government will provide such subsidies to people whose income or assets do not meet certain criteria, so that these people may apply for such subsidies including “loan interest on self-built houses,” “loans for self-purchase of houses,” “house rental cost,” “loan interest on house renovation” and “fees for simple renovation of houses”. An applicant is allowed to select only one of these subsidies in the same year and makes only one application within a number of years to avoid the repeated use of resources and to enable all needy people to have access to appropriate subsidies.[page]

 

(3) To encourage the private sector to actively initiate social housing projects. To stabilize the housing market, the central and local competent authorities should, in accordance with actual conditions, in regions where an imbalance occurs in supply and demand, adopt measures to build houses, or take other necessary market regulation measures, modes of attracting investment, sales and rental price methods, application qualification methods, that are to be determined by the central competent authorities,¹⁴ and should encourage the private sector to initiate social housing projects, with competent authorities offering preferential policies. For example, it is prescribed ing Article 17 to Article 20 of the Housing Act that the government uses such measures to encourage the private sector to initiate social housing projects.

 

(4) To determine basic dwelling standards. The central competent authorities of Taiwan should, by drawing on the experience of foreign countries, determine basic dwelling standards based on the number of people per unit area, area of private space for each family member (number of bedrooms), public space for family members (number of toilets, bathrooms, kitchen and dining room), and should energetically push forward the construction of barrier-free housing; in addition, they should facilitate the construction of overall housing landscapes; subsidies or rewards should go to the construction of houses with distinctive characteristics such as those of the Hakkas, people from southern Fujian and indigenous people, etc.

 

(5) To enhance the development of housing market information. To guide the development of the housing market in a perfect way, the government should gather and analyze relevant information, such as information on the housing market and transaction prices, on a regular basis, and should publish data at regular intervals so people can look up information, and offer sources on law for disclosing information about housing and real estate markets.

 

(6) To ensure people’s right of housing. The right of housing should be deemed as a basic human right. Everyone should enjoy the right of housing on an equal footing. No discrimination should be imposed on tenants, purchasers or borrowers. No refusals should be made for barrier-free renovation and raising of guide dogs, etc. Any violator shall be fined more than 100,000 but less than 500,000 New Taiwan dollars.¹⁵[page]

 

 

 

(1) “Helping the disadvantaged” is the core value of social housing. When the Housing Act was being drafted, nongovernmental organizations hoped that the percentage of social housing reserved for prescribed groups should reach at least 30 percent, yet the percentage has been reduced by the Legislative Yuan through the third reading to 10 percent. Therefore, whether the adopted Housing Act can fulfill its role as social welfare policy into waits to be seen.

 

(2) When it comes to social housing, we should not only encourage the private sector to build the housing, but should attach more importance to how to plan and administer the residential quarters in the future after the disadvantaged move in.

 

 According to Article 27 of the Housing Act, municipalities and counties (municipalities) directly under the Central Government will have to operate the social housing on their own or through entrusted operation by others. However, the Housing Act does not stipulate who will be the operator, or which non-governmental organization will be entrusted to operate such housing, and where the operating expenses will come from in the future. 

 

(3) Regarding promoting the transparency of housing market information, there is no standardized penalty stipulation from Article 39 to Article 44 of the Housing Act in cases of proprietors’ concealment, not offering market information or offering incorrect market information. Therefore, whether the act can play a substantive role in this regard has yet to be observed. 

 

(4) Housing discrimination is a frequently occurring problem affecting people’s right of housing. For example, physically or mentally disturbed people or people living in old people’s homes are most liable to be refused by landlords for housing rental; landlords join hands to drive tenants out of residential quarters for fear of slumps in housing prices; banks refuse to provide loans for fear that the physically and mentally disturbed will be unable to pay the interest. There are no protective measures in the Housing Act against such discrimination problems, however. The Housing Act only explicitly stipulates that the construction of barrier-free spaces and rearing of guide dogs is protected. Therefore, whether the policy against “housing discrimination” can be truly carried out also waits to be seen.[page]

 

 

On May 20, 2014, the Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou made a speech on the 6th anniversary of his tenure in office, stressing that “the government will make Taiwan a place where young people can afford to live”; the ‘Ministry of the Interior of Taiwan’ also expressed that it would adopt various proactive measures to increase the number of “social housing” units for rent but not for sale. It also hopes that supplies of social housing can be increased, subsidies can go to local governments to initiate social housing projects and that subsidies can first be provided for the construction of idle structures into social housing and efforts should be made to introduce private funds, promote private participation, facilitate urban renewal and adjust volume so as to push forward the development of social housing. Additionally, the ‘Ministry of Finance’ and ‘Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan’ should also be invited to examine and sort out idle land and houses to give to local governments for the construction of social housing. All policies show that people of all walks of life in Taiwan are gradually paying attention to the issue of “social housing” as well as to the importance of housing policy.

 

Implementing the “justice of housing” is more than chanting a slogan. The Housing Act relates to social housing, housing subsidies, the housing market, housing quality and housing discrimination, and is the nervous centralis of Taiwan’s housing policy, just as the Environmental Basic Law and the Education Basic Law are in their fields. Nowadays injustice in housing occuring in Taiwan is the result of the Housing Act not having been implemented. The Taiwan government should, on the one hand, advocate the regulations in the Housing Act and should, on the other hand, carry out the plan for the construction of “social housing.” In addition, through public participation and dialogue among specialists and scholars from enterprises, governments and research institutes, the government should think and set up a sound and suitable support system. Only by doing so can people’s “right of housing” be truly safeguarded.

 

Since there is relevant security housing policy in the Chinese mainland to make it more legalized, the legislation of the Housing Security Law should be completed as soon as possible and should be put into practice. Only by doing so can people’s right of housing be guaranteed, the antagonism between the rich and the poor be dispelled and social harmony be advanced!

 

1.Xie Ruiming, “Talks on the Justice of Housing,” 111th issue of the Human Rights Journal, pp. 28-30, Chinese Association for Human Rights, 2014.

 

2.Qiu Daote, Theory and Practice on the Construction of the Security Housing, Southwest China Normal University Press, 2012, at 1.[page]

 

3.Xie Ruiming, Justice of Housing and Right to Adequate Housing—On Justice of Housing in China, National Policy Foundation, 2013.

 

4.China’s Security Housing Policy and Legal Practice and Application Tool Box, First edition of April 2010, Law Press, 2010, at 1.

 

5.Ibid., at 183.

 

6.Ibid., at 318-319.

 

7.See supra note 2.

 

8.See Article 8, Section 1 of the Housing Act.

 

9.Those who encounter special conditions or have special status refer to any of the following circumstances: 1) low-income people; 2) families in special situations; 3) those who have at least three minor children; 4) those who cannot return home after staying at placement institutions or with foster families and who are under the age of 25; 5) those who are 65 years of age or older; 6) victims of domestic violence or sexual assault and their children; 7) physically and mentally disturbed people; 8) those who are infected with the human immune deficiencyvirus (HIV) or have AcquiredImmune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS); 9) indigenous people; 10) disaster victims; 11) vagrants; 12) others recognized by the central competent authorities. See Article 3, Section 2 of the Housing Act.

 

10.See Chapter 3 of the Housing Act.

 

11.See Article 39, Section 1 of the Housing Act.

 

12.See Article 45 of the Housing Act.

 

13.See Article 46 of the Housing Act.

 

14.See Article 40 of the Housing Act.

 

15.See Article 57 of the Housing Act.

 

16.Xu Xiangyin, An Overview of Present Housing Policy in China, 683rd issue of the monthly of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, 2012.