The number of applications for life extension for old homes in Taitung has exceeded 60. The county government clarified that there is no limit on the number of applications until November 13.

Many residential houses in Taitung are in need of repairs, and applications for life extension of old houses are enthusiastic. (Photo by reporter Huang Mingtang)

The Taitung County Government promotes the "Old House Life Extension Function Restoration Project". Since the application was opened on August 17 this year, more than 60 applications have been accepted. There is misinformation among the public that the quota has been reached. The county government emphasized that the acceptance period will be until November 13, when lots will be drawn. In order to assist the public in successfully completing the application, the Construction Office has set up a dedicated service counter in the Construction Management Section, and arranged professional architects and guidance team members to be stationed daily to provide on-site consultation and document review services.

During a parliamentary inquiry today, Taitung County Councilor Chien Wei-kuo raised a question to Construction Director Cai Shengxiong regarding the progress of receiving the subsidy program, public misunderstandings that "the quota is full", and multi-year application for rights, requesting the county government to actively assist the public in improving the safety of old residences.

Regarding some people's concerns about being informed that "the quota is full" when they went to consult, Cai Shengxiong clarified that the county government's acceptance of applications "is based on the deadline, and there is absolutely no limit on the number of applications." As long as the applications are submitted before the deadline on November 13, they will be accepted. At present, the number of applications has exceeded the number of households approved by the central government for subsidies. It may be that the service staff's explanation has caused public misunderstanding. He emphasized that after the deadline for receipt, the county government will conduct unified evaluation, review and scoring ranking. There will be no "first come first win" situation. If the scores are the same, the subsidy recipients will be determined by drawing lots in accordance with regulations to maintain fairness.

Jian Weiguo said that if qualified cases that cannot be approved for subsidies this year due to quota restrictions can be exempted from repeating the tedious process of preparing documents and submitting documents next year, the qualifications can be directly retained and transferred to next year's budget ranking. Cai Shengxiong expressed his strong agreement with this and is currently actively seeking instructions from the central government for coordination. Cai Shengxiong pointed out that the central government has not stipulated that those who have not received subsidies cannot be extended to the following year. The county government’s ideal approach is to directly incorporate the list of qualified candidates but not included in the subsidy list this year into next year’s cases to re-order, so as to save the people the burden of going through the process again. In the future, they will continue to seek the most flexible and flexible approach from the central government to implement the policy of extending the life of old houses and making people safe.