Civil Groups Demand Housing, Childcare, and Labor Reforms; Plan to Meet with Six Major City Mayoral Candidates

(Taipei, July 15, CNA reporter Wang Shu-fen) Several civil organizations held a joint press conference today, stating that following the passage of the revised 'Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Allocation Act,' the six major cities (Six-Do) will see a significant increase in financial resources. They called for these funds to be invested in public-priority areas such as housing, childcare, and labor, and announced plans to meet with mayoral candidates from the six cities, urging them to provide concrete responses.

The organizations—OURs Urban Reform Organization, Tsui Mama Foundation, Social Housing Promotion Alliance, Childcare and Employment Policy Advocacy Alliance, and Taiwan Labor Front—jointly held a press conference titled 'With Six-Do's Financial Resources Significantly Increased, Social Investment Must Not Remain Stagnant,' presenting 11 policy demands and a follow-up advocacy plan ahead of the 2026 local elections.

Peng Yang-kai, Secretary-General of OURs Urban Reform Organization, said that while mayoral elections often come with numerous campaign promises, policies on housing, childcare, and labor—issues most directly affecting citizens—must offer practical solutions that genuinely address public needs.

Hung Ching-shu, Research Department Director at Taiwan Labor Front, stated that once the Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Allocation Act is revised and passed, local government finances will undergo significant changes, especially with a substantial increase in financial resources for the six major cities. He emphasized that housing, childcare, and employment are interconnected policy pillars that support citizens from birth through aging in place, and are critical to local development.

Hung added that without adequate living and working conditions, more family members will be forced to stay home to provide care, negatively impacting household income, career development, and housing quality. Local governments should prioritize these three areas.

Sun Yi-hsin, convener of the Social Housing Promotion Alliance, noted that after approximately 15 years of implementing the Housing Act and social housing policies, social housing remains a public good that cannot be fully replaced by market-based rental subsidies or rental management programs.

Sun pointed out that suitable public land for social housing development is nearing saturation. He urged all counties and cities to establish land reserve plans for social housing, incorporate social housing land into comprehensive development plans and major development conditions, and cooperate with the central government's 2023 social housing land enhancement measures by reserving a certain proportion of land for social housing in land expropriation or urban renewal projects.

Wang Chao-ching, convener of the Childcare and Employment Policy Advocacy Alliance, noted that although birth rates have continued to decline in recent years, the number of people on public childcare waiting lists has not decreased—in fact, it has increased. Using Taipei City as an example, the lottery admission rate for public childcare for children aged 0–2 remains low, with evident waiting lists. For children aged 3–5, due to uneven distribution of non-profit and public kindergartens, some areas are full while others still have vacancies, indicating unbalanced resource allocation across age groups.

Wang advocated gradually reallocating part of the public childcare resources currently designated for ages 3–5 to the 0–2 age group to meet the strong ongoing demand for infant and toddler care. In areas where this transition has not yet been completed, the number of public childcare centers and infant-toddler class slots must continue to increase.

Yang Shu-wei, Secretary-General of Taiwan Labor Front, said that while overall wages in Taiwan have risen, the median wage remains at only about 80% of the average wage, indicating a widening wage gap. Moreover, penalty standards for minimum wage violations vary significantly across the six major cities, with some cities lacking clear enforcement criteria. For the same number of violations, fines range from NT$800,000 in some cities to only NT$320,000 in others.

Yang also cited occupational safety, noting that from 2022 to 2024, 456 workers died in occupational accidents in the six major cities—more than half of the national total—highlighting severe inadequacies in occupational safety prevention, labor inspections, employment safety support, and vocational training, despite increased safety budgets.

Lu Ping-i, Executive Director of the Tsui Mama Foundation, said the five civil groups will invite mayoral candidates from major political parties in the six cities to roundtable discussions on policies related to social housing, public childcare, and labor support. They will ask candidates to clarify their positions and approaches, and demand clear goals and concrete plans, avoiding vague visions or short-term subsidy-based policies.

Lu added that they will subsequently review candidates' budget planning, implementation timelines, and the monitorability of their campaign promises, track their policy announcements, public commitments, and responses to meeting invitations, and conduct policy evaluations based on specificity, feasibility, and detail to push candidates toward more comprehensive and implementable policies. (Editor: Kuan Chung-wei) 1150715