Social Housing in Taiwan: Can Foreigners Apply?
Not as the applicant. Article 17 of the Ministry of the Interior's Regulations on Renting Social Housing requires the applicant to be an adult national of the Republic of China. Holding a work or student ARC does not qualify you to file in your own name.
What you can be is a household member on someone else's application. In practice that is how new resident families apply: the Taiwanese spouse is the applicant and the foreign spouse is listed as family.
If you are unsure where your own situation falls, call 1990 or ask your local housing department before assuming either way.
If you cannot be the applicant, apply for the rent subsidy instead
The nationality rule on social housing is not a rule about housing help in general. Most foreign residents holding an ARC can apply for the rent subsidy — it looks at whether you own a home, whether you actually rent, and your income, with no nationality requirement of this kind. It pays NT$2,000–8,000 a month before multipliers, straight into your own account, and applications are open all year.
These are two different schemes with two different rulebooks. Being turned away from one is not a reason to give up on the other.
What social housing actually is
It is not a cash payment. It is housing rented to you below the market rate, built or managed by government bodies.
Rent is banded by household income under the Principles for Tiered Social Housing Rent — the lower your income, the lower your rent, and at the lowest band it reaches roughly 30% of market rent. Published rents usually already include the management fee.
| Band | Who it covers |
|---|---|
| Band 1 | Low-income and lower-middle-income households — the lowest rent |
| Band 2 | Average monthly income per member below 1.5× the local minimum living cost |
| Band 3 | 1.5× up to 2.5× |
| Band 4 | 2.5× up to 3.5× |
The published principles cap rent through a formula against market rent and the local minimum living cost rather than fixing a percentage per band, so the actual figure comes from each rental announcement.
Who qualifies
- The applicant is an adult ROC national (Rental Regulations §17)
- Registered, working or studying in that city or county
- Neither you, your spouse, nor lineal relatives in your household own a home
- Household income and assets under the ceiling that city or county publishes — commonly at or below 3.5× the minimum living cost
Disadvantaged and special-status applicants — low-income households, people with disabilities, those aged 65 and over, single parents, survivors of domestic violence — have reserved quotas and better odds than the general pool.
There is no year-round application
This is the part that catches people. Social housing is not an open queue you join and wait in. Each city or county housing department and the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center announce rental rounds in batches, and each batch has its own submission window that closes when it closes.
Places are allocated by lottery or by a points ranking. If you are not selected, your application does not roll over to the next batch — you apply again from scratch.
How to apply
- Watch the rental announcements from your city or county housing department, the National Housing and Urban Regeneration Center, or the Ministry of the Interior's social housing information pages.
- File online or in person inside that batch's submission window.
- Prepare identity and household documents, proof of income and assets, and any documents supporting disadvantaged or priority status.
- Selection is by lottery or points ranking; sign the lease and move in if selected.
Once you are in
- Leases usually run 1 to 3 years, renewable under the applicable rules.
- Rent is reviewed at least every three years, and any increase cannot exceed the rise in the local minimum living cost.
- You may not sublet or lend the unit to anyone else.
Where to get help
- 1990 — the hotline for foreign residents (24 hours, Chinese/English/Japanese).
- Your city or county housing department, for the batch schedule where you live.