Public Rental Housing Rent to Be Combined Based on 'Median Income' Standard

Promotion of Integrated Projects for Types such as Yeonggu, Gukmin, and Haengbok Housing... Outline of Rent Pricing Plans

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The government's plan to integrate types of public rental housing is taking a concrete shape. The plan is to unify the previously complex income criteria into median income and to differentiate rent levels according to income.

According to the National Assembly and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on the 6th, MOLIT is discussing a plan to merge the currently divided types of construction public rental housing?such as permanent rental, national rental, and Happy Housing?into one type and to set rent levels based on median income.

Currently, when determining eligibility or rent for public rental housing, income quintiles and the average income of urban workers are used as standards. Based on income quintiles, permanent rental targets households in the 1st to 2nd quintiles, national rental targets the 1st to 4th quintiles, and Happy Housing targets the 1st to 6th quintiles.

However, in the actual recruitment process, the previous year's average monthly income per household of urban workers is used as the standard, resulting in a mixture of the two criteria. For Happy Housing, which allows entry up to the 6th quintile, the eligibility for newlyweds is set at 100% or less of the previous year's average monthly income per household of urban workers.

Rent is also set differently depending on the type and the status of the tenant, which has led to criticism that rent calculation is unreasonable or difficult for applicants to understand.

Since announcing the "Housing Welfare Roadmap" in 2017, the government has continuously promoted the integration of rental housing types. The most likely current plan is to differentiate rent based on median income. Currently, median income is used as a key standard in various welfare policies, such as providing housing benefits to households below 44% of median income. For example, households below 44% pay rent at about 30% of market price, while those between 44% and 60% pay about 36% of market price.

However, MOLIT states that it is still reviewing several options and that the rent calculation method has not been finalized. MOLIT is also reportedly considering introducing a waiting list system where applicants who apply once for public rental housing are registered as waiting applicants for future public rental housing supply.

Through these measures, MOLIT plans to complete the integration of public rental housing types by 2022 and achieve a social mix in public rental housing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.