ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses housing policy in Taiwan in the context of the broad East Asian welfare model, as well as the relevant subsets within the model. Given the dominance of economic growth and political stability in the developmental welfare regimes, housing is rarely regarded as part of the social welfare programme. The Taiwanese government established its public housing programme in 1976. The housing problems began when Taiwan was expelled from the United Nations in 1971. The public housing developed was either unpopular because of being built on cheaper but remote sites or expensive because of the high land price in prime areas. Public housing has played an insignificant role in the Taiwanese government's political agenda. The large population growth, combined with little housing production, created a problem of housing shortage. The most prominent housing issue before the onset of the Asian financial crisis was expensive housing costs in Taiwan.
