‘Youth Hope City Busan’ … Busan City Allocates 181.9 Billion KRW for Youth Policy Budget in 2022

Busan City Hall.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Trainee Reporter Hwang Du-yeol] Busan City has allocated a budget of 181.9 billion KRW for youth policies in 2022 and will implement policies tailored to the needs of young people.

The budget and policies were organized and promoted to create a Busan where young people want to live.

The city aims to become a "Youth Hope City Busan where young people want to live" by investing 181.9 billion KRW in a total of 116 projects across five major sectors: ▲ Job creation 62.9 billion KRW ▲ Housing 61.3 billion KRW ▲ Education 24.6 billion KRW ▲ Welfare and culture 29.3 billion KRW ▲ Participation and rights 3.8 billion KRW.

The city has more than doubled the youth policy project budget from 82.5 billion KRW in 2021 to support young people working and taking on challenges locally, newly launching a total of 26 projects including youth job creation, housing support, and asset building.

Looking at the job creation sector, a total of 27 projects will receive 62.9 billion KRW.

The sector secured a record-high total project cost of 48.2 billion KRW to establish a customized youth job ecosystem in future new industries such as Digital, Network, and AI.

In the housing sector, a total of 61.3 billion KRW will be invested in 10 projects.

To reduce the housing cost burden on young people struggling due to instability in the real estate market, the city will support "jeonse rental deposit interest (up to 100 million KRW)," "jeonse deposit return guarantee fees," and "real estate brokerage fees (up to 300,000 KRW)."

It will also invest 9.5 billion KRW in "special monthly rent support for youth (200,000 KRW per month)" and 38.7 billion KRW in "youth-tailored public rental housing supply" in areas with convenient transportation such as near subway stations to ease housing cost burdens and strengthen housing stability.

In the education sector, centered on the Busan Ji-San-Hak Cooperation Center, a comprehensive platform for local government, industry, and academia, 2.3 billion KRW has been secured for the new "Industry-Academia-Research Linked Field Training Bridge Project," connecting education and field training to corporate employment.

In the welfare sector, for the first time next year, 6.7 billion KRW will be invested in "Youth Asset Formation Support," providing one-to-one matching support for monthly savings to 4,000 young people to help build future assets for youth with unstable incomes.

The city plans to allocate 300 million KRW for "professional counseling support on credit and debt management" to assist young adults in managing credit and assets.

The "Youth Mental Health Support Project," piloted in 2021, will be expanded to lower the threshold for psychological counseling and establish a counseling system tailored to youth sensitivities.

Through support projects, the city will provide customized one-on-one psychological counseling and in-depth mental health counseling linked to mental well-being for youth.

In the cultural sector, 300 million KRW will be allocated to "nurturing prospective and emerging young artists and building attractive infrastructure for youth artists to be active," and over 100 million KRW will be set aside for "visiting youth concerts" and "youth cultural festivals" to enable many citizens to share youth culture.

The city also planned the "Youth Community Revitalization Project," which discovers youth communities active locally and supports network activities to promote regional revitalization.

In the participation and rights sector, the Busan Youth Platform has been completely revamped to ensure young people receive the support they need.

The city is building an integrated youth policy information network and launching a dedicated new media channel for youth policy to promote interactive online communication with content tailored to the youth generation's perspective.

Centered on the Youth Center, a hub for youth governance activities, the city will hold youth policy workshops and Busan Youth Week to actively encourage youth participation in policy, and newly launch the "Busan Youth Panel Project" to comprehensively understand the current status and changes in the lives of Busan youth.

Park Hyung-jun, Mayor of Busan, said, "We will create a city where young people can receive education, find employment, get married, have children, and live happily and continuously?a city where the future of youth opens and where young people want to live."

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