‘Our Neighborhood Empty Houses’ Change? ... Korea Real Estate Board Launches ‘Small-scale Housing Maintenance’ System Public Contest

From September 1 to 30, a total prize of 11.5 million KRW

Small-Scale Housing Maintenance Project Idea Contest Poster.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yeo Jong-gu] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Real Estate Board are holding a national idea contest for small-scale housing maintenance projects to explore creative and diverse ways for the public to utilize vacant houses.

Now in its second year, the vacant house utilization contest is open to all citizens, who can propose utilization cases such as creating new spaces like community gardens, parking lots, and resident sports centers after demolishing or remodeling vacant houses, or developing them in connection with small-scale housing maintenance projects.

The contest categories are divided into ▲Idea type (utilization plans after remodeling or demolishing vacant houses) ▲Design type (utilization plans linked to development projects such as small-scale housing maintenance projects) ▲Utilization case type (actual cases of vacant house utilization).

Especially this year, emphasis is placed on ‘collaboration with the local community,’ and extra points will be awarded for proposals that suggest ways to utilize vacant houses as community assets and directions for cooperation.

The small-scale housing maintenance project idea contest seeks ideas infused with the public’s imagination and creativity to transform the project into a more approachable new image.

The contest categories include ▲Video type on free topics related to small-scale housing maintenance projects, ▲Slogan type expressing the purpose and content of the small-scale housing maintenance project system in an easy-to-understand and relatable way, and ▲Character type representing the Korea Real Estate Board’s Small-scale Housing Maintenance Integrated Support Center (tentatively named ‘Sotongi’).

The vacant house utilization contest will be judged based on creativity, feasibility, and scalability, while the small-scale housing maintenance project idea contest will be evaluated considering symbolism, creativity, popularity, and usability.

Submissions will be accepted for 30 days from the 1st to the 30th of next month. Submitted entries will undergo a first-round document review and then be finally judged by a contest evaluation committee composed of internal and external members.

For each of the vacant house and small-scale housing maintenance idea contests, a total of 12 outstanding ideas will be selected, including one grand prize (Minister’s Award, 5 million KRW), two excellence awards (Korea Real Estate Board President’s Award, 2 million KRW), and three merit awards (Korea Real Estate Board President’s Award, 1 million KRW for two entries and 500,000 KRW for one entry). Selected entries will receive certificates and prize money.

The contest results will be posted online and notified individually, and the award ceremony for winners will be held at the Urban Innovation Industry Expo in October.

Lee Bu-young, Head of the Industry Support Headquarters at the Korea Real Estate Board, said, “We hope this contest will serve as an opportunity for policies that reflect the public’s awareness of vacant house issues and sentiments toward small-scale housing maintenance projects.”

More detailed information on each category of the vacant house and small-scale housing maintenance project contests and participation methods can be found on the Korea Real Estate Board website.

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