“Housing Welfare is the Best in Changwon” … Changwon Special City Selected as an Excellent Local Government for the 3rd Housing Welfare Awards

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award Winner

Changwon Special City in Gyeongnam was selected as an outstanding local government and received the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award at the 3rd National Housing Welfare Awards 2023, held on the 19th at the AT Center in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, targeting 229 local governments nationwide.

Changwon Special City received the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award for Housing Welfare.

The Housing Welfare Awards are conducted to discover the demand for excellent local government policies, including performance management and support in the housing welfare sector. It is a meaningful award given to basic local governments that have improved housing conditions for local residents through customized housing welfare policies, selected as outstanding local governments through expert performance evaluations and case presentations.

This year, Changwon Special City has been accelerating the promotion of Changwon-type housing welfare projects in the housing welfare sector, including ▲ supply of public rental housing ▲ housing repair support projects and housing cost support ▲ interest support projects for newlywed couples' jeonse (long-term lease) loans. In particular, it achieved the result of being selected as an outstanding local government by presenting a specialized case of the private participation-type youth housing support project.

In addition, the city focused on housing stability for young people and newlywed couples and promoted various support projects that can help alleviate the actual housing cost burden. These include ▲ interest support for jeonse loans for 1,389 newlywed households amounting to 1 billion KRW ▲ interest support for home purchase loans for 214 newlywed households amounting to 200 million KRW ▲ basic housing benefits for 280 youth households amounting to 576 million KRW, significantly reducing the housing cost burden for young people.

Support for housing-vulnerable groups was also strengthened. This includes ▲ rental fee support of 52.2 billion KRW for 25,000 households receiving basic housing benefits ▲ housing repair support of 1.037 billion KRW for 156 households receiving housing benefits for owner-occupied residences ▲ housing remodeling projects for the disabled with support of 46 million KRW ▲ rental deposit support of 88 million KRW for low-income groups. The city proactively identified housing crises and vulnerable households in the blind spots of housing welfare and continuously provided customized housing services.

Furthermore, to prevent jeonse fraud, which has recently emerged as a social issue, and to provide practical housing support for victims, a counseling center for victims of jeonse fraud was operated, composed of legal, financial, and housing experts.

Since the enactment of the ordinance in 2019, the city has been the first nationwide to annually support the guarantee fee for the return guarantee of jeonse deposits, with 401 cases amounting to 84.48 million KRW, promoting proactive jeonse fraud prevention policies and focusing on victim support by establishing a strong housing safety net that protects housing vulnerable groups through monthly rent and loan interest support for victims.

Moon Sang-sik, Director of the Urban Policy Bureau, said, “We will continue to focus administrative capabilities on creating urban residential spaces befitting the status of a city with a population of one million, strengthening meticulous and detailed housing welfare services that young people and citizens can directly feel, to become a happier city that is more comfortable to live in.”

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