‘Youth Hope UP Project’ Energizes the Spirit of Young People Living in Busan

Busan City Provides Employment and Housing Support Ladder for Busan Youth Facing COVID-19 Employment and Living Difficulties
Various Organizations Collaborate on Social Contribution Projects for 'Stay', 'Livelihood', and 'Mental Health'

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Busan City is expanding the ‘Youth Hope UP Project’ to support young people in Busan who are facing double hardships due to employment difficulties and financial struggles caused by COVID-19.

This project integrates various life stabilization support policies, including housing issues, debt burdens, and psychological difficulties faced by Busan youth, and provides related information through a ‘one-stop’ service.

It is promoted through three main areas: securing stable housing, stabilizing livelihoods, and caring for mental health.

First, to secure stable housing, the project collects young people’s housing difficulties and supports housing independence through financial education.

Specific programs include ▲monthly rent support ▲Stay Loan (Meumuljari Loan) ▲Youth Housing Concentrated Area Environmental Redevelopment (Safe Village) project ▲Youth Safe Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee Fee Support project.

The ‘Monthly Rent Support Project’ has been implemented by Busan City since 2019, the first of its kind nationwide at the metropolitan level. The ‘Safe Village Project’ and the ‘Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee Fee Support’ projects will be launched for the first time in the second half of this year in cooperation with the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG).

The ‘Safe Village Project’ was proposed by the Busan Youth Policy Network ‘Cheongjeongnet’ in 2019 and is being implemented as a social contribution project by HUG. Currently, design services have begun, and by the first half of next year, a safe and pleasant residential environment will be created in the youth housing concentrated area of Nam-gu.

The ‘Jeonse Deposit Return Guarantee Fee Support Project’ is the first of its kind nationwide, established through a business agreement with HUG, providing jeonse deposit protection and housing finance education, and is scheduled to be implemented in September.

Additionally, the ‘Job-Linked Support Housing Project,’ recently selected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s public contest, is a collaboration between Busan City and the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). It provides affordable housing linked to jobs for young workers employed in small and medium-sized enterprises in regional strategic industries, offering customized public housing that combines stable living spaces, facilities, and services.

The second area is policies for stabilizing livelihoods. Through the ‘Student Loan Credit Recovery Support Project,’ the city supports young people registered as credit caution due to unpaid student loans by subsidizing part of their repayment amount to help restore their credit.

Through the ‘Joy of Working Card Support Project,’ welfare points worth 1 million KRW annually are provided to improve the welfare of young workers employed in small and medium-sized enterprises in Busan.

Also, the ‘Student Loan Interest Support Project’ is being implemented to support stable studies for local university students, build a regional settlement environment, and cover blind spots in government scholarships.

Busan City is proactively promoting various support projects as well as developing customized financial policies for youth to help them settle in the region.

The final project focuses on caring for the mental health of Busan youth.

Recent surveys from the Youth Happiness Box revealed that beyond demands for treatment of mental illnesses such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, many young people experience basic mental health difficulties such as ‘lack of self-understanding’ and ‘helplessness.’

Busan City plans to implement a project next year to care for the mental health of Busan youth, based on proposals from Cheongjeongnet.

The ‘Youth Hope UP Project’ consists of projects actively listening to various difficulties young people face in daily life and planned through their suggestions.

Various organizations such as the Housing and Urban Guarantee Corporation, Korea Housing Finance Corporation, BNK Busan Bank, Korea Land and Housing Corporation, and Korea Student Aid Foundation are promoting individual projects through social contribution and collaboration.

Park Sung-hoon, Deputy Mayor for Economy of Busan City, said, “To help young people in Busan who are struggling due to the impact of COVID-19, we are actively promoting direct job creation projects such as the Youth Hope Intern Project (1,069 people) and the Local-led Job Project (2,538 people).”

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