The Seoul Metropolitan Government is expanding housing cost support for homeless families with newborns who are considering leaving the city due to housing burdens. With the easing of the jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) deposit threshold, the number of eligible recipients has increased significantly, which is expected to ease the housing pressures on families with newborns.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday that it began accepting second-half applications for its "Housing Cost Support Program for Homeless Families With Newborns" starting the first of this month. The program supports jeonse loan interest or monthly rent so that families do not choose to leave Seoul because of increased housing costs after childbirth, providing up to 300,000 won per month for two years, or a total of up to 7.2 million won.
The recent rise in Seoul's jeonse and monthly rent prices has been increasing the financial burden on families with newborns. According to actual transaction prices from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the average jeonse deposit for Seoul apartments from January to May this year was 658.75 million won, up 19.1% from two years earlier, while monthly rent also rose about 25% over the same period. Amid this trend, the number of people leaving Seoul has also increased, with housing costs leading to a "Seoul exit."
In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has made the eligibility criteria for the housing cost support program more realistic starting this year. It eased the jeonse deposit threshold from 300 million won or less to 500 million won or less, and the monthly rent threshold from 1.3 million won to 2.29 million won or less. As a result, 1,754 households applied in the first half, an increase of about 88% compared with total applications last year.
Monthly rent households accounted for the largest share of applicants at about 48%, and a considerable number of them were found to bear monthly rent of 600,000 won or more. A Seoul Metropolitan Government official explained, "Households in their 30s, when childbirth and child-rearing begin in earnest, live in relatively small homes because of jeonse and monthly rent burdens, yet they need more housing cost support to stably raise children in Seoul."
The support is provided on a prepay-and-reimburse basis. Once selected, recipients receive up to 300,000 won per month by submitting proof of jeonse loan interest or monthly rent payments. In the event of an additional childbirth during the support period, the support is extended by one year per child, for a maximum of four years.
Second-half applications can be submitted through the "Tansaeng Yukah Mongttang Information Portal" website until December 31, and only households within one year of childbirth are eligible to apply. After eligibility verification, results will be announced in January next year, and following verification procedures, support payments are scheduled to begin in February.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to conduct satisfaction surveys and gather opinions from supported households to improve the program going forward. Ma Chae-sook, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Women and Family Affairs Office, said, "In a situation where jeonse and monthly rent burdens are growing, housing costs after childbirth are a real difficulty that many families feel." She added, "I hope that in the second half as well, more households will receive support and be able to secure a stable housing and child-rearing environment."
