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Homeless and trapped in Taiwan's wealth gap

AFP, Taipei
WITH an advertising sign in his hands, Liao Chin-chang stands wearily at an intersection near a new luxury apartment building in Taipei, trying to earn money as a walking billboard for the type of property most Taiwanese will never afford.
The sight of homeless people holding placards for elite properties at street corners is becoming increasingly common in Taiwan's capital, providing a harsh illustration of the island's gap between the haves and have nots. enough to rent a small room for one month," said Liao.
In recent years the gap between the rich and poor has widened rapidly, reaching a record level in 2011 as the wealthiest families earned 96 times more than the poorest.
It has coincided with a slowing economy, partly driven by the relocation of manufacturing industries to cheaper foreign countries such as China and Vietnam, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of blue collar jobs.
This has been compounded by limited retraining opportunities and a low minimum wage of less than
people or housewives even for a temporary placard-holding job."
The bottom five percent of families reported an average annual income ofTw$48,000 ($1,600), compared with Tw$4.63 million earned by the top five percent in 2011, based on income tax filings.
Taiwan has made efforts to address wealth inequality, while initiating plans to rein in soaring property prices and hike taxes for the wealthy, which has helped narrow the gap between rich and poor since the 2011 record.
But the plight of the underclass is becoming an increasingly frequent theme in the media, including the recent story of an eight-year-old living in a graveyard with her cash-stripped parents for over a year after they were kicked out by their landlord. Social workers eventually intervened.
Observers have cited the wealth gap as a factor driving recent antigovernment protests that occupied the parliament's main chamber earlier this year.
Taiwan has moved to levy a so-called "rich man's tax" on nearly 10,000 of the island’s wealthiest people in a bid to narrow the income gap and ease growing public anger. The proposal passed an initial screening in parliament earlier this month.
However, Professor Lin warned that income disparity will widen further.
"The gap will continue as the next generations inherit wealth while the poor have little chance to turn their situations around with less money for their children."
The private Grace Home Church currently runs 27 centres across Taiwan serving two free meals a day for six days a week to up to 2,000 homeless and disadvantaged people daily, according to pastor David Lee.
"There are more and more people coming to our centres these days. We hope they can have enough to eat and some peace of mind here before they can think of the next step in their lives."
A decade ago the church ran one facility sending just 80 people and it now plans to open more than 30 new centres to meet growing demand, Lee said.