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Sun, February 28, 2021 | 22:20
Health & Welfare
Candidates vow more public housing
Posted : 2017-04-27 16:49
Updated : 2017-04-27 18:33
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By Kim Se-jeong

Lack of affordable accommodation is a growing challenge in Korea and all major presidential candidates have promised to provide more public housing to solve the problem.

Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the frontrunner in the race, promised to provide 170,000 public housing units every year he is in office ― which would total 850,000 homes.

Runner-up Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party made a similar promise, pledging 150,000 units every year. Hong Joon-pyo of the Liberty Korea Party said he would provide 120,000 units per year, while Yoo Seong-min of minor conservative Bareun Party promised 150,000 until 2022. Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party promised 150,000 new homes per year.

Each candidate has a different idea regarding beneficiaries.

Moon has newlywed couples in mind and pledged to dedicate 30 percent of the promised housing units to them alone. Ahn's focus is on college students and young jobseekers, promising 50,000 units for them every year. Sim and Yoo have in mind young people who live alone, while Hong had no target audience.

Three candidates pledged a government subsidy for those who can't afford housing. Moon projected 100,000 won per month and Sim 200,000 won for the least privileged 2.15 million households. Ahn did not mention a specific amount.

The housing issue has long been a problem in Korea. Those who rent or pay a huge deposit, known in Korean as "jeonse," face a big financial burden. The rent and jeonse hike is steep every year due to lack of regulations, serving to cause other social problems.

The low birthrate is one such problem. Young people without money and a job either delay or give up on getting married and creating a family.

Moon, Ahn and Sim promised a legal limit on the increase rate to keep the hike under control. Yet, Moon said he would be cautious because the impact could be huge.

The two leading contenders ― Moon and Ahn ― promised measures to get landlords to cooperate with their efforts to provide affordable housing, but their approaches are starkly different.

Moon pledged to provide cooperative landlords with incentives, but Ahn promised to force them to cooperate.

Housing experts viewed the candidates were on the right track by increasing the availability of public housing, but urged them to reveal more details on how to implement the plans.

"These projects will be costly, but no candidate talks about how to raise money to do it," a professor at the Seoul University of Venture & Information said.





Emailskim@ktimes.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
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