Taiwan Boosts Affordable Housing by Converting Hotels to Homes

Taiwan announced new incentives for hotel owners to convert all or part of their properties to social housing, in a scheme that would create more affordable homes as well as give hotels battered by the Covid-19 pandemic an additional source of revenue. Hotel owners who agree to the scheme will get NT$40,000 (S$1,960) for each room that is converted, and hotels that cease operations altogether because of the pandemic will receive an additional NT$10,000 per room. They will also be exempt from tax on property and their rental income. In addition, the government will make up the difference between subsidised rent for social housing and current market rental prices. Recently approved by the government, the three-year project is a part of an overarching plan to make housing more affordable in Taiwan. According to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), some 16,000 hotel and motel units (rooms) will be converted into social housing for younger and disadvantaged renters in the first two years of the programme. The MOI will work with owners of another 4,000 public or privately owned rooms to do the same. Hotels that sign up must have at least 15 rooms in the building converted to social housing, and those that opt to devote entire floors must have at least 30 rooms or half of its total number that are converted, said the MOI