Government Launches Full-Scale Measures to Ease Rent Burden for Small Business Owners

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Hyewon] The Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise Associations (KFMEA) issued a statement on the 12th regarding the government’s announced measures to alleviate rental burdens, expressing hope that these will lead to substantial rent reductions for small business owners.

The policies to ease rental burdens for small business owners?including strengthening voluntary rent reduction support in the private sector, direct rent reductions by the public sector, and encouraging local governments to prepare rent reduction support plans?represent a step forward beyond the existing three-pronged approach to easing rental burdens. KFMEA stated that it hopes this will serve as a catalyst for the “Good Landlord Movement” to spread further in the private sector, leading to more substantial rent reductions for small business owners.

According to the “Small Business Rent Status Survey” conducted online by KFMEA on 1,311 general small business owners nationwide and released on the 5th, 95.6% of small business owners are tenants, representing an overwhelming majority, and 89.4% responded that “rent is a burden,” showing a very high level of concern.

When asked about rent increase levels compared to the same period last year, 80.8% answered “no change,” 13.5% said “increased,” and only 5.5% reported a decrease. KFMEA explained that this indicates that despite the severe difficulties faced by small business owners due to the COVID-19 pandemic, actual rent reductions have been minimal.

KFMEA said, “We hope that the government’s measures will open a turning point where many small business owners can genuinely feel the effects of rent relief,” and added, “We also hope landlords will actively participate in easing the burdens on small business owners caused by COVID-19, as the scope of practical support has expanded through these measures.”

However, while the current rent relief measures have a policy effect of encouraging landlords’ voluntary rent reductions, KFMEA explained that to enhance the policy’s effectiveness, authorities should consider the survey result showing that 48.1% of small business owners identified “direct government rent support” as the most desired rent policy.

KFMEA stated, “We hope that the case of Ganghwa County directly supporting small business owners’ rent up to 500,000 won per month for three months will spread further through other local governments following this policy announcement,” and added, “We also hope that additional direct rent support measures for small business owners will be actively discussed by the government and the National Assembly.”

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