Older adults face discrimination in Taiwanese rental market
Older adults face discrimination in Taiwanese rental market
2026-05-15
Taiwan has already become a super-aged society. However, despite this, few landlords seem to be willing to rent to older adults, leaving many of them unable to find suitable housing. Reasons for this include Taiwanese taboos about death and general age discrimination. Let’s find out more about how these elderly people are faring.
This place was originally a vegetable market, but the owner later converted it into private room in a shared apartment and rented it them out to elderly people who live alone at a low rent.
Mr. Chiang
Older solo renter
At first, I felt that living in a basement wasn’t a good idea. I did the math and wondered if I could afford to rent an apartment upstairs I couldn’t.
Despite the less-than-ideal living environment, for these vulnerable older adults, simply being able to rent a place is already not easy.
So Hai-yun
Older solo renter
We’re old, and so we can’t find a place to rent anywhere else, even if we have the money.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, there are approximately one million people aged 65 and above living alone, of whom 4.5%, or nearly 200,000, rent housing. Having a need for rental housing but being unable to find suitable accommodation has become a difficult situation for many older adults.
Chang Shu-ching
Federation for the Welfare of Taiwan’s Seniors
Landlords often believe that older people are closer to death. They worry that if something happens to an elderly tenant — for example, if ambulances have to come frequently — they’ll constantly have to help deal with the situation. Many landlords simply want to avoid the hassle.
Lu Ping-yi
Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation
The percentage of landlords willing to allow an older adult to view a property is only 0.45%, so the actual transaction rate may be far lower than that.
Taboos surrounding death, age discrimination, and other factors have made older people living alone unwelcome in Taiwan’s rental market. Although the government has introduced measures such as rental management programs and tax incentives to encourage landlords to lease their properties, the results in practice have remained limited.
Lu Ping-yi
Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation
The social housing rental and management policy is similar to rent subsidy policies. Both rest on the foundation of Taiwan’s existing rental market. So, frankly speaking, such policies require the cooperation of landlords and they can be described as “being at the mercy of landlords.”
Because of landlords’ reluctance and the difficulty of implementing policies, older adults living alone are often forced to compromise when searching for housing.
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獨居長者租屋成功率低 政策成效不彰成社會隱憂
2026-05-15
台灣已經邁入超高齡社會，然而，在租屋市場中，房東願意租屋給獨居長者的比例相當低，讓不少長者面臨租不到房的困境，原因包括對年齡的歧視、死亡的忌諱等等，儘管政府推出包租代管和新建社會住宅等政策，但成效不彰，高齡者在租屋市場被排擠，已成為嚴重的社會問題。
這裡原本是菜市場，後來屋主改建成雅房，以便宜租金，出租給獨居長者。
[[獨居長者 江先生]]
“剛開始也覺得住地下室不太好，算一算去租樓上，租得起嗎，租不起”
儘管環境不理想，但對這些弱勢長者來說，能有空間可以租，已經很不容易。
[[獨居長者 所海雲]]
“我們年紀大，別的地方租不到房子，有錢都租不到房子”
根據內政部最新統計，65歲以上獨居長者約1百萬人，在外租屋則佔4.5%，將近20萬人。有租屋需求，卻找不到合適的房子，成了許多長輩困境。
[[老人福利推動聯盟秘書長 張淑卿]]
“房東都會認為，高齡者比較接近死亡，他會擔心就是，高齡者萬一發生事件，比如救護車比較常來，然後要常常幫忙處理，因為房東也很怕麻煩”
[[崔媽媽基金會執行長 呂秉怡]]
“願意接受高齡者去看屋的比例只有萬分之45，所以實際成交的比例，可能會遠低於這個數字”
死亡忌諱、年齡歧視等種種因素，讓獨居老人成了租屋市場的拒絕往來戶。雖然政府推出包租代管、稅負減免等措施，希望提高房東出租意願，但在實務推動上，成效仍有限。
[[崔媽媽基金會執行長 呂秉怡]]
“社會住宅包租代管政策，跟租金補貼政策都是相同，因為它奠基在我們台灣的租屋市場的基礎，所以坦白說這樣的政策，會需要房東的配合，也會叫做看房東臉色”
房東意願問題，加上政策難以落實，獨居老人在尋遮風避雨的居所時，只能退而求其次。
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