Housing for youths worsens

Young people, and those who live alone in particular, are increasingly living in poor housing such as rooftop houses and gosiwons. / Korea Times file

By Kim Bo-eun

One in five young people live in rooftop shacks or low-cost, tiny “gossiwon” rooming houses, a report shows.

According to the report from civic group Min Snail Union, Tuesday, 22.9 percent of 2,294,494 people aged 19 to 34 live in poor housing.

In 2010, 36.3 percent of 340,000 single-person youth households dwelt in poor housing and 58,000 of them lived in even more dismal places.

The figure is up from 21.2 percent in 2000 and is more than twice that of the 14.8 percent of total households living in poor conditions.

Basic living costs ― including rent and utility fees ― are also proving to be a huge burden for young people.

In 2012, such costs amounted to 30 percent of the income for 69.9 percent of youth households.

Those paying monthly rent are also on the rise.

In 1990, 9.5 percent of those aged 25 to 29 lived in self-owned houses, while 30.6 percent paid monthly rent. But in 2010, the percentage of those living in self-owned houses fell to 7.8 percent and those paying monthly rent rose to 50.3 percent.

In the case of people aged 20 to 24, the percentage paying monthly rent was 43.6 in 1990 but surged to 73.8 in 2010.