Seoul City’s 'Cheongnyeon Wolse' Receives Seven Times Target Applications... First Payment in September

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Seoul Metropolitan Government received applications from 34,201 people for the 'Seoul Youth Monthly Rent Support' program, which started this year as part of policies to ensure a fair starting point for youth. This number is seven times higher than the initially announced support scale of about 5,000 people, indicating strong interest from young people struggling with housing cost burdens.

Seoul announced the results of the Seoul Youth Monthly Rent Support applications received from the 16th to the 29th of last month on the 6th. According to the data, the average income of the applicants was 1,316,000 KRW, and the average monthly rent expenditure was 373,000 KRW. Seventy point eight percent had a deposit of 10 million KRW or less. Nearly half of the applicants lived in single-family or multi-family houses, and one in five was 'unemployed.' The district with the most applicants was Gwanak-gu (19.2%), a youth-dense area and the largest concentration of goshiwons in Seoul.

Applications were divided into two main categories. The support target was single-person youth households with an income below 120% of the median income. For the 'general youth (4,000 people)' category, 31,942 applied, and for the category of youth who lost their jobs or had income reduced by 25% or more due to COVID-19 (1,000 people), 2,259 applied. The total number of applicants was 34,201.

Female applicants (62.3%) outnumbered males, and the majority (80.9%) were aged 30 or younger.

By occupation, office workers (25.5%) were the largest group, followed by unemployed (19.3%), students (17.6%), sales/service workers (16.5%), and professionals/freelancers (15.4%).

Gwanak-gu, which has the highest number of goshiwons in Seoul, had the most applicants with 6,472 (19.2%). This was followed by Gwangjin-gu (6.6%), Dongjak-gu (6.3%), Mapo-gu (5.7%), and Seongbuk-gu (5.3%).

The average income of applicants in the single-person youth household category below 120% of the median income was 1,316,000 KRW, with an average rental deposit of 14,377,000 KRW and monthly rent of 373,000 KRW.

Meanwhile, the submitted applications will be reviewed for eligibility, income and asset verification, and overlap with similar programs. The support recipients will be selected in August, and from September, up to 200,000 KRW per month (one-time in a lifetime) will be provided for up to 10 months.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said, "Seoul will minimize the housing cost burden that youth face during their independence process to achieve housing stability. We plan to establish support criteria for youth monthly rent through a policy forum in November and expand support to about 20,000 people in 2021." He added, "Based on housing conditions and survey analysis results, we will also explore linked support projects to improve the housing level of participating youth."