On the Reconstruction of Old Buildings in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

The 2022 Q4 data published by the Real Estate Information Platform of the Ministry of the Interior stated that 4.62 million buildings were more than 30 years old, accounting for approximately 51% of the total number of buildings in Taiwan. Since Taiwan is located in a high seismic zone and old buildings have a low seismic resistance. With the emergence of an aging society, where many old buildings are occupied by older people or even older people living alone. Furthermore, old buildings need elevators, making house sales and mortgages difficult. To encourage people to participate in the reconstruction of old buildings, the Ministry of the Interior announced the implementation of the Statute for Reconstruction of Urban Unsafe and Old Buildings on May 10, 2017. Buildings owners who met the Statute for Reconstruction of Urban Unsafe and Old Buildings requirements were expected to value and participate in the program. This study focused on Kaohsiung City and included in-depth interviews with ten people, including experienced architects, banks, willing applicants, and real estate agencies. Using the MAXQDA result analysis, this study discovered that the interviewees paid attention to the reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings 299 times in total: execution of reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings (90 times, 39.30%), policy on the reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings (61 times, 26.64%), incentives for the reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings (47 times, 20.52%), and subsidies for the reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings (31 times, 13.54%). Therefore, when promoting the reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings in the future, the Kaohsiung City government should first address “execution” issues, such as difficulties in executing the reconstruction program and obtaining bank loans; developing a feasible financial plan for the reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings; and assisting willing applicants in successfully securing bank loans.