A hotel-to-social housing program recently approved by the Executive Yuan will launch on Jan. 1, 2022, as part of government efforts to promote housing justice nationwide, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said in a statement Monday.
According to the ministry, the program, approved on Dec. 16, will mainly target hotel/motel operators and leasing companies, encouraging them to sign up to convert their properties into social housing units through the provision of subsidies and tax breaks.
During the first two years of the initial three-year program, it is expected that 20,000 units — 16,000 hotel/motel units and 4,000 empty private or public-owned units — will be converted.
The main objective of the program is to provide decent and safe social housing to youth and the underprivileged, while also helping hoteliers overcome the severe fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MOI said, citing figures from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
According to the MOI, participating hotels that are still operating will be able to enjoy a reduction in land value tax and house tax, and a business tax exemption on rental income.
The National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center (NHURC) will assist hoteliers with renovations by providing NT$$40,000 (US$1,438) for each housing unit converted, the MOI said.
Idle hotels that participate will receive a renovation subsidy of NT$50,000 for each unit renovated, and the NHURC will lease converted units and rent them with a 50 percent, 30 percent and 20 percent discount of the market price to people in need, depending on their socioeconomic status and relevant regulations. It will also pay the price difference to the hotel operators, it said.
At the same time, the Department of Land Administration will help hoteliers, mainly those willing to convert all of their hotels into social housing units, shift to the leasing sector and offer special credit loans, the MOI said.
To help promote the hotel-to-social housing program, officials in the Construction and Planning Agency, the MOTC and the NHURC held meetings with members of leasing and hotel associations in November and December to explain relevant measures and regulations, increase awareness of the program and drum up support.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel