Taipei is offering resident newlyweds the chance to win NT$200,000 (US$14,266) in an effort to arrest a continuing exodus of families from the capital to neighboring cities.
The lottery was one of several measures announced by Taipei Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan (???) Tuesday designed to reverse the city's declining population, which experts have attributed to a combination of soaring housing costs, low wages, and a lack of child-care subsidies.
According to Huang, all individuals with household registration in Taipei who enter a civil union between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2022 will be entered into the marriage lottery.
The lottery will feature a NT$50,000 monthly draw, a NT$100,000 quarterly draw, and an annual draw for NT$200,000, according to Huang.
Although winners in lower rounds will be taken out of the pot for future draws, with 10 winners picked each month, five each quarter, and 10 for the annual prize, a married couple who beats the odds could walk away with up to NT$400,000.
Huang said that based on figures from last year, newlywed individuals would have around a 1.3 percent chance of winning a cash prize.
The lottery also applies to same-sex marriages.
However, even the top prize is unlikely to prove much help to Taipei couples with ambitions of homeownership.
According to a Ministry of the Interior (MOI) report from Sept. 30, 2021, the ability of Taipei residents to shoulder a mortgage is rated "overtly low," with individuals needing to save 15.79 years of income to match the price of an average property in the capital.
The lottery was just one of the policies announced by Huang aimed at keeping families in Taipei, with the city set to also increase a one-off third-child subsidy from NT$25,000 to NT$30,000, in addition to decreasing taxes, building more public housing, and providing rent assistance.
Huang said that the third-child subsidy was more than that offered by neighboring areas like New Taipei and Keelung.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel