[In Focus] The World Now, Innovating Living Spaces with the Housing New Deal

Jin Mi-yoon, Research Fellow at LH Land and Housing Institute

The year 2020 was an unforgettable year for all of us. Due to the spread of COVID-19 variants, this year will also be unforgettable. Large-scale lockdowns around the world are the first of their kind in 75 years since World War II. The global economic growth rate fell by 4.4%, marking the worst performance. Social distancing, quarantine, and lockdowns have not only halted everyday communication but have also led to unexpected job losses, income reductions, anxiety, and fear. Above all, while people must stay safely at home, the COVID-19-induced housing crisis is becoming severe as many have no home to stay in or cannot remain in their homes.

Many countries initially implemented emergency measures. Temporary policies include rent payment deferrals, eviction moratoriums, payment of rent or maintenance fees, provision of shelters or temporary accommodations, and loan repayment deferrals. However, these emergency responses, which do not change the existing housing system, have fundamental limitations. For example, in the United States, the eviction moratorium for tenants who could not pay rent on time due to income loss was initially set to last until the end of December last year but was extended three times until the end of March, June, and July this year. However, if the July deadline passes, 4.2 million tenants will face eviction threats, potentially causing a historic wave of evictions. In every country, waiting lists for public rental housing have grown longer, and homelessness has increased by about 30%.

In fact, the housing crisis is not a new issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the existing problems once again. Why is housing becoming increasingly unaffordable and unstable? The straightforward solution is to increase affordable and stable housing. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) calls for expanding public housing as a simultaneous solution to housing poverty and energy poverty. The Eurozone, led by the European Parliament, is accelerating a housing New Deal linked to the Green New Deal. Following the climate and environmental crises, overcoming the housing crisis is now a rallying call.

France's France Relance plan, Denmark's Green Recovery plan, the UK's Affordable Housing plan, as well as countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, and Belgium, are now advocating for "realizing housing justice, environmental justice, and climate justice through investment in quality affordable public housing," planning to invest more than 30% of Green New Deal funds in new public housing construction, remodeling, and energy performance improvements. The European Parliament also adopted a resolution in January 2021 titled "Fair Development and Access to Housing." Canada has established a Green New Deal community plan aiming to reduce rent burdens for low-income households by 10% through a $500 billion (approximately 460 trillion KRW) public housing investment over ten years. The Biden administration in the United States has begun reconstruction (new construction, remodeling, performance improvement) work on public rental housing, which had been neglected in policy priorities, with an investment of over $70 billion (approximately 80 trillion KRW).

The housing New Deal is not a specific project. Similar to the New Deal mobilized to overcome the Great Depression in the 1930s, it signifies that the world's housing situation is an emergency. The housing New Deal is a "new social contract on housing." It is an agreement that guarantees the most fundamental values and fair access: that housing should be safe, comfortable, and affordable for everyone. It is an agreement to restore the drastically reduced public housing investment since 2010 and also represents a transformative shift to change the prevailing trend of excessively soaring housing prices even amid the COVID-19 situation.

The Korean Green New Deal does not incorporate a housing New Deal. Although a blueprint for new public rental housing is presented by 2025 according to the Housing Welfare Roadmap, greening, quality, and performance improvements of existing rental housing are not reflected. Among public rental housing, 200,000 units will soon reach 30 years since construction. More than half of private rental housing is also over 20 years old. Nationwide, over one million households do not meet the minimum housing standards. Shouldn't Korea also place housing at the center of COVID recovery, overcome the housing crisis through a housing New Deal, and move closer to housing justice?

Jin Mi-yoon, Research Fellow, LH Land and Housing Institute

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