Jeonju City Renovates Eyesore Vacant Houses in Downtown into Shared Spaces

Utilization of Vacant House Platform and Establishment of Vacant House Maintenance Plan

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hong Jaehee] Jeonju City, Jeollabuk-do, is set to establish a vacant house maintenance plan to renovate vacant houses left as eyesores in the urban area into pleasant shared spaces.

On the 21st, the city announced that it will establish a Jeonju vacant house maintenance plan to be implemented over the next five years to manage a total of 1,961 vacant houses confirmed in the vacant house survey, including 1,178 in Wansan-gu and 783 in Deokjin-gu.

This is to prevent social problems such as crime concerns and deterioration of the residential environment caused by neglected vacant houses and to manage vacant houses efficiently.

First, the city will classify the vacant houses considering their degree of aging and risk as follows: ▲Grade 1 (Good condition) 180 houses ▲Grade 2 (General vacant houses) 710 houses ▲Grade 3 (Poor vacant houses) 635 houses ▲Grade 4 (Demolition target) 436 houses, and plans to gradually secure the budget by 2024 to carry out maintenance.

For Grade 1 and 2 vacant houses, the city will encourage voluntary maintenance by owners through sending direct messages (DMs), and for Grade 3 and 4, safety measures such as installing screens and IoT-based monitoring projects will be implemented.

Additionally, the city plans to strengthen the brokerage role between owners and users through the vacant house platform (Vacant House Bank), jointly established and currently in pilot operation with the Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation (LX). The vacant house platform is based on autonomous vacant house transactions among citizens, with 70 vacant houses currently registered.

The city plans to prioritize purchasing vacant houses in densely vacant house areas, transforming the accumulated vacant houses into shared spaces such as rental housing, cultural and artistic spaces, village rest areas, senior centers, small libraries, village workshops, pocket parks, unmanned parcel lockers, waste separation facilities, parking lots, and community gardens.

At the same time, for vacant houses with high safety accident risks, the city will induce voluntary demolition and proceed with compulsory demolition if they significantly hinder public interest.

The city expects to improve urban aesthetics and residential environments by establishing a systematic vacant house maintenance plan to eliminate illegal waste dumping sites and resolve high-crime areas.

Previously, since 2008 until last year, the city has spent a total of 1.69 billion KRW to maintain 141 vacant houses left abandoned in the urban area. This year, a total of 260 million KRW is being invested to create two half-price rental housing units, five parking lots, and six community gardens.

Kim Eunju, Director of the Housing Welfare Division, said, “We will improve the housing conditions of vulnerable groups by renovating vacant houses that deteriorate the residential environment and realize housing welfare. At the same time, we will do our best to promote the project to create a livable residential environment by providing convenience spaces such as community rest areas for residents.”

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