LH Rental Housing Rent Long-Term Arrears Affect 60,000 Households... Arrears Amount 42.9 Billion KRW (Comprehensive)

Sobyunghun "60,000 Households Will Be Forced to Evict from LH Public Rental Housing When COVID Ends"
"Tenant Protection Measures Needed, Including Housing Cost Support and Debt Relief for Unpaid Rent"
LH "Efforts for Housing Stability Through Rent Freeze, Delinquency Support, and Emergency Housing Support Committee Operation"

According to data from Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), among households living in public rental housing leased to vulnerable groups, 60,000 households have failed to pay rent for more than three months, with unpaid rent amounting to 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, So Byung-hoon, a member of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party, analyzed the status of households with unpaid rent in public rental housing submitted by LH. According to the analysis, 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 unpaid rent for more than three months. Notably, the rent they owed accounted for 42.911 billion KRW, or 74% of the total unpaid rent of 58.025 billion KRW.

Additionally, 30,015 households had not paid rent for more than six months, owing 30.85 billion KRW in rent arrears. 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 house recovery lawsuit according to the “Housing Management Regulations Enforcement Rules,” and if a final judgment is made, it will urge voluntary eviction. Therefore, So’s office claims that 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 public rental housing rent 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 about 60,000 households who have not paid LH public rental housing rent for more than three months is 707,729 KRW. Therefore, once the rent payment deferral ends, these households will have to pay an additional 58,977 KRW per month for one year on top of the existing 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 highest number of rent defaulters reside, are mostly low-income households such as ▲recipients of livelihood or medical benefits, ▲elderly low-income groups 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-style rooms), or jjimjilbang (Korean sauna) if evicted from public rental housing. 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 or implement debt relief for unpaid rent through various means.”

In response, LH stated, “We are freezing rent for all nationwide rental housing until next year to help the entire nation overcome the COVID-19 crisis.”

LH also explained, “We have raised a donation fund of 330 million KRW jointly with financial institutions to support long-term delinquent households with unpaid rent and maintenance fees, and we are continuously striving to stabilize residents’ housing by operating an emergency housing support committee composed of experts.”

In major countries overseas, as the prolonged COVID-19 crisis has led to a surge in households unable to pay rent, separate budgets have been allocated to strengthen rent support for households facing housing crises.

The United States allocated a staggering 46.5 billion USD (about 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.

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

Additionally, the Victoria state government in Australia provided a total of 75.65 million AUD (about 64 billion KRW) to approximately 30,000 tenants struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 crisis, with up to 3,000 AUD (about 2.54 million KRW) per tenant. Luxembourg also prohibits eviction of tenants with unpaid rent and supports families with two children with 187 euros (about 250,000 KRW) per month and single-person households with 134 euros (about 190,000 KRW) per month.

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 euros (about 1.21 million KRW) for tenants who have unpaid rent.

Furthermore, as the Financial Services Commission of Korea announced in November 2017 under the “Support Measures for Long-term Small Amount Delinquents,” which provides debt relief for long-term small amount delinquents who have lost repayment ability, So suggested that screening the repayment ability of households with unpaid rent and maintenance fees in public rental housing and providing debt relief for those without repayment ability could be another method.

So emphasized, “If the rent payment deferral for public rental housing residents ends, more than 60,000 households could be evicted from public rental housing, causing significant chaos. LH must establish sufficient measures before ending the rent deferral to protect vulnerable groups from being pushed to the brink.”

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