60,000 LH Rental Housing Tenants with Long-Term Rent Arrears... Arrears Amounting to 42.9 Billion KRW

Sobyunghun "60,000 Households Will Be Forcibly Evicted from LH Public Rental Housing When COVID Ends"
"Tenant Protection Measures Such as Housing Cost Support and Debt Relief for Unpaid Rent Must Be Established"

According to data, among the households living in public rental housing leased by Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) to vulnerable groups, 60,000 households have overdue rent payments for more than three months, with unpaid rent totaling 42.9 billion KRW. Consequently, concerns have been raised that at least 60,000 households could face forced eviction from LH public rental housing once the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

On the 7th, according to an analysis by So Byung-hoon, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, based on data submitted by LH on households with unpaid rent in public rental housing, among 170,762 households that had unpaid rent in LH-owned public rental housing up to the first half of this year, 60,632 households had overdue rent payments for more than three months. Notably, the rent unpaid by these households accounted for 42.911 billion KRW, which is 74% of the total unpaid rent of 58.025 billion KRW.

Additionally, 30,015 households had not paid rent for more than six months, with unpaid rent amounting to 30.85 billion KRW. The number of households that had not paid rent for more than ten months reached 19,302, with unpaid rent totaling 22.911 billion KRW.

LH stipulates that if a household residing in public rental housing fails to pay rent or maintenance fees for more than three months, it will file a lawsuit for house recovery according to the 'Housing Management Regulations Enforcement Rules,' and if a final judgment is made, it will urge voluntary eviction. Therefore, once the government's rent payment deferral measures for public rental housing, implemented since March last year, end, these households are highly likely to be evicted from public rental housing according to the established regulations.

LH has stated its position to "reduce the burden on vulnerable groups by allowing unpaid rent for public rental housing to be paid in installments over one year," but So's office pointed out that it is uncertain whether rent installment payments will actually help tenants.

Currently, the average unpaid rent amount for approximately 60,000 households in LH public rental housing who have not paid rent for more than three months is 707,729 KRW. Therefore, once the rent payment deferral measures end, these households will have to pay an additional 58,977 KRW per month for one year on top of their existing rent to cover the unpaid rent. Furthermore, about 30,000 households who have not paid rent for more than six months will have to bear an additional average monthly burden of 85,527 KRW for one year.

However, households living in jeonse rental housing or national rental housing, where the number of rent defaulters is highest, are mostly low-income households such as ▲ recipients of livelihood or medical benefits, ▲ elderly low-income households aged 65 or older (with a two-person household income of 1.54 million KRW), or ▲ households with a monthly average income below 70% of the urban worker's average monthly income (3.19 million KRW for a two-person household). Since these households have low income and generally low prospects for income growth, So argues that an additional monthly rent burden of 60,000 to 90,000 KRW per household would be a significant hardship for them.

So said, "People currently living in public rental housing will inevitably be pushed into more precarious places such as small rooms, goshiwon (tiny dormitory rooms), or jjimjilbang (Korean sauna) if evicted from public rental housing," and added, "To guarantee minimum housing rights for those who have difficulty paying overdue rent on their own, the government needs to provide direct support equivalent to the unpaid rent amount or implement debt relief for unpaid rent through various means."

In major countries overseas, as the COVID-19 crisis prolonged, the number of households unable to pay rent surged, prompting governments to allocate separate budgets to strengthen rent support for households facing housing crises.

The United States allocated a staggering 46.5 billion USD (approximately 53 trillion KRW) budget to prevent tenants who have not paid rent from being forcibly evicted. The reason for this astronomical budget is that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July, 3.6 million tenants nationwide were at risk of eviction within two months due to unpaid rent.

In response, U.S. President Joe Biden and Congress announced a new eviction moratorium in high COVID-19 infection areas on August 3 and agreed to expedite the distribution of the 46.5 billion USD emergency rental assistance program budget to tenants and landlords.

Additionally, the government of Victoria, Australia, provided a total of 75.65 million AUD (approximately 64 billion KRW) to about 30,000 tenants struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, with up to 3,000 AUD (approximately 2.54 million KRW) per tenant. Luxembourg also banned evictions of tenants with unpaid rent and provides monthly support of 187 EUR (approximately 250,000 KRW) for families with two children and 134 EUR (approximately 190,000 KRW) for single-person households.

The Spanish government offers interest-free loans repayable over an average of six years and up to ten years, with a maximum monthly amount of 900 EUR (approximately 1.21 million KRW) for tenants who have unpaid rent.

Furthermore, similar to the 'Long-term Small Debt Delinquent Support Measures' announced by South Korea's Financial Services Commission in November 2017, which provide debt relief for long-term small debt delinquents who have lost repayment ability, So suggested that assessing the rent and maintenance fee payment ability of households with unpaid rent in public rental housing and providing debt relief for those without repayment ability could be a viable approach.

So emphasized, "When the rent payment deferral measures for public rental housing residents end, more than 60,000 households are likely to be evicted from public rental housing, causing significant chaos," and added, "LH must establish sufficient measures before ending the rent payment deferral to protect vulnerable groups from being pushed to the brink."

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