Govt. announces housing support for 1.11m households in 2017

Published : Mar 8, 2017 - 10:28 Updated : Mar 8, 2017 - 10:28

The South Korean government announced its annual public housing plan Wednesday, under which it will provide financial and other support to more than 1.1 million households.

The government support may come in monthly allowances for low income households but also in actual houses at special rates for up to 120,000 families, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

Houses on sale in Korea (Yonhap)

Under the annual government program, worth more than 22.1 trillion won ($19.26 billion) in total, the government will provide some 940 billion won in monthly housing allowances to about 810,000 households that make up the lower 43 percent of the income bracket, the ministry said in a press release.

A family of six may be eligible for up to 369,000 won per month, while a single person household may be entitled to as little as 133,000 won a month.

An additional 180,000 households may benefit from special government-backed loans to purchase or rent their homes, while another 120,000 will be given state-owned homes to live, at special rates that are set at as low as 60 percent of market prices.

The ministry said the construction of about 70,000 new government housing units will be completed this year, and it will purchase an additional 50,000 homes from private developers to be lent out as public housing units.

"The government will support up to 1.11 million households this year in forms of public rental homes, housing allowances or special loans," the ministry said. (Yonhap)