From Rural Village Burden to Vitality Treasure... "The Transformation of Empty Houses Is Amazing"
Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do, is accelerating the regeneration of vacant houses in rural villages, attracting nationwide attention with many benchmarking visits.
According to the county on the 18th, on the 12th, 21 trainees from the local government 5th-grade promotion leadership course visited Haenam-gun to conduct policy research on responding to regional extinction and utilizing vacant houses.
This is already the third time that the administrative officer trainees have visited Haenam, naturally becoming part of the training curriculum.
The visiting trainees unanimously stated, "Projects utilizing vacant houses are difficult to start because they are blocked from obtaining the owner's consent, but Haenam-gun is successfully promoting such projects, making it a model case worthy of policy research."
Twenty-one trainees of the local government grade 5 promotion leadership course are touring a newly renovated vacant house for policy research on responding to regional extinction and utilizing vacant houses. [Photo by Haenam-gun]
Additionally, on the 20th, Haenam-gun's rural vacant house regeneration project will be introduced as an excellent case of the Rural-Urban Win-Win Cooperation Fund at the integrated practical workshop hosted by the Foundation for Cooperation between Large, Small and Medium Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries.
The Foundation for Cooperation between Large, Small and Medium Enterprises and Agriculture and Fisheries is one of the institutions that signed an MOU with Haenam-gun and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, showing interest in rural extinction and promoting various projects. Starting with Haenam-gun's first public-private cooperative rural vacant house regeneration project, full-scale vacant house regeneration will begin in 2024.
Haenam-gun's vacant house policy began to attract attention through the small school revitalization campaign launched in 2021.
The small school revitalization project, which recruits students on the condition of providing housing for transferring families, started in 2021 by renovating and leasing eight vacant houses in Bukil-myeon, and has expanded to 67 locations across four myeons: Bukil, Hyeonsan, Gyegok, and Masan. The spread of the small school revitalization has achieved a twofold effect of population increase due to family migration and vacant house maintenance.
In particular, Masan-myeon was selected as the first target site for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' public-private cooperative rural vacant house regeneration project, renovating eight rental houses linked to the small school revitalization and leasing them free of charge to families with transferring students. Currently, tenants are being recruited, targeting households living outside Haenam with children eligible to transfer to Masan Elementary School.
In line with the new tourism trends of the MZ generation, vacant houses are also being utilized as tourist facilities. Starting next year, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' public project for rural idle facility utilization and regional revitalization, five vacant houses in Bukpyeong-myeon will be used to create a village hotel.
Additionally, in Hwangsan-myeon, a youth complex cultural space called ‘Nungnung-gil’ is being established. Utilizing vacant houses around Okdong Village, known for its lacquerware craft village, the project aims to create not only youth residential spaces but also startup spaces such as craft workshops, experience rooms, and exhibition halls.
Costs are also supported for remodeling vacant houses directly by households. Remodeling costs of up to 15 million KRW have been supported for a total of 11 houses owned by landlords who rent to returning farmers and fishermen households. Additionally, up to 20 million KRW will be supported for three teams of young people without housing who sign lease contracts for vacant houses in Haenam-gun for at least five years.
Vacant houses that have been left unused for a long time and are unusable are demolished to create living SOC facilities. Through the ‘Rural Space Maintenance Project,’ vacant houses in Hyeonsan-myeon and Sanim-myeon will be reborn as public facilities such as rental housing for returning farmers and fishermen and community rest areas.
So far, Haenam-gun has achieved remarkable results in vacant house maintenance by renovating and leasing 108 vacant houses, the largest scale in Jeollanam-do, and newly constructing 14 rental houses on vacant house sites.
An official from the county said, “We aim to establish a model where young people settle in the region through vacant house maintenance and increase the length of stay of tourists visiting Haenam. Beyond simply solving the vacant house problem, we will continue to seek diverse and creative ways to utilize vacant houses to contribute to regional economic revitalization, social integration, and cultural regeneration.”
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