Summary of Minister Ibayashi’s Press Conference
Overview
The Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said that urban redevelopment projects are important for ensuring urban safety, while securing housing for older people is also important. On the premise of rights conversion and necessary compensation, the basic approach is for redevelopment associations to respond carefully in light of the circumstances of the rights holders concerned. The minister said that efforts to secure housing stability in coordination with local governments are important for households with older residents and others who need consideration when relocating. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will also work with local governments to secure a stable residential environment.
Key points
- The minister said that both ensuring urban safety and securing housing for older people are important.
- The basic approach is for the redevelopment association to respond carefully in light of individual circumstances, including compensation.
- For households with older residents and others who need consideration when relocating, coordination between the association and local government is important.
- The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it would work with local governments to secure a stable residential environment.
Overview
The questions concerned the urban redevelopment project around the Piccolo Square district in Oyama-cho, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo. The reporter explained that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism was providing approximately 10 billion yen in subsidies and that demolition work would begin on the 2nd. The reporter also said that an older person living alone who had been asked to leave had not found a place to move, and asked for the minister’s response to the threat to residential stability from a highly public project, as well as how the national government, local government, and redevelopment association would respond.
The reporter said that although the redevelopment association was making efforts, older people face barriers in the private rental market, where they may be refused housing.
Details
The minister explained that the project proceeds through rights conversion, preserving the rights of the rights holders concerned, and that the system provides necessary compensation to landowners and tenants. The basic approach is for the implementing body, the redevelopment association, to respond carefully in light of the circumstances of the rights holders concerned, including compensation.
The minister said that for households with older residents and others who need consideration when relocating, it is important for the association to work with local government to secure housing stability. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also said it would work with local governments to ensure that the project is carried out appropriately and that a stable residential environment can be secured.
In response to the reporter’s statement that Itabashi Ward had indicated that securing relocation housing was the association’s responsibility and that it did not intend to get involved with older people, the minister replied that the effort would address the matter as a whole, rather than as an individual project, by creating an environment in which housing stability could be secured through coordination.