Gwangju City Significantly Eases Eligibility Criteria for Long-Term Vacant Public Rental Housing Tenants

Led Revision of Enforcement Rules for the Special Act on Public Housing by Proposing to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Eligibility criteria for permanent rental housing vacancies in the Gwangju area will be significantly relaxed starting this March.

Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 30th that the revised 'Enforcement Rules of the Special Act on Public Housing' and 'Public Housing Work Processing Guidelines,' which greatly relax eligibility criteria to resolve vacancies in aging permanent rental housing, will take effect from March 1.

The revised content relaxes the income criteria within the eligibility for public rental housing tenants from the previous monthly average income of 50% or less (2.7 million KRW for a 3-person household) to ▲if the vacancy rate of permanent rental housing is 5% or more and has lasted for 6 months or longer, the eligibility is relaxed to 70% or less of the household's monthly average income ▲if the vacancy rate is 5% or more and has lasted for 1 year or longer, the eligibility is relaxed to 100% or less of the monthly average income.

The permanent rental housing managed by Gwangju City consists of 15,370 units (4,700 units by the Urban Corporation, 10,670 units by LH Corporation), of which 574 units (as of the end of 2019) are currently vacant.

With this revision, permanent rental housing with a vacancy rate of 5% or more in Gwangju, such as Hanam Jugong, Gakhwa Jugong, and Usan Bityeoulchae, is expected to be targeted.

Since January last year, Gwangju City has repeatedly proposed to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to relax eligibility criteria for vacant units and expand local government authority to improve the efficiency of public rental housing management, leading to this related law revision.

Unlike national housing and Happy Housing, permanent rental housing has long-term vacancies but only tenants who meet the income criteria can move in, resulting in a nationwide increase in vacancies.

Along with this, Gwangju City is promoting the 'Sweet Cohabitation Project of Vacant Houses and Youth' to address the issues of permanent rental housing vacancies and youth housing problems in a combined manner.

This project has received positive evaluations by revitalizing stagnant permanent rental housing through youth moving in and activating the community by providing various service activities through talent donations to residents.

Lee Sang-bae, Director of the Urban Regeneration Bureau of the city, said, “By relaxing eligibility criteria, we have resolved the long-term vacancy problem of aging permanent rental housing and enabled housing-vulnerable groups who were previously unable to receive support due to existing eligibility criteria to benefit.”

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