Government Eases Public Housing Regulations for Families with Children

Some non-homeowners with three or more children will be given public rental housing under 33 pyeong (exclusive area of 25.7 pyeong) after a screening process that will start in the first half of next year.

Presently, 10 percent of the total amount of public rental housing under 25.7 pyeong is being offered to families of those who died serving the country, North Korean defectors, the disabled, and workers in small and medium sized companies. The beneficiaries of this special provision will outrank non-homeowners who hold a priority right to buy the housing.

The housing provision regulation will be revised to include the above measures early next year to seek ways to promote childbirth, according to the Ministry of Construction and Transportation announced on Tuesday.

If the revised regulation takes effect, non-homeowners with three or more children will have a higher chance of winning the right to buy the public rental housing under 25.7 pyeong in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province. Since they become the beneficiaries to the special provision, they would need no application savings accounts to move in Pangyo, according to the ministry.

The ministry has also decided to raise the limitation of the loan for the national housing fund from 100 million won to 150 million won to help non-homeowners with three or more children buy their own housing. To that end, the ministry plans to make changes with the plan to manage the fund from late this year.

In addition, the ministry is planning to provide loans with an annual rate of 4.5 percent up to 60 million won through the fund to help non-homeowners pay their housing rental fees.

The ministry had revised the housing provision regulation before to give three points additionally to households with three or more children, and two points to those with two children, which was a separate measure from the previous way to add points according to the number of dependent family members when they apply for the public rental housing.

Seung-Heon Lee ddr@donga.com