Haenam-gun Changes the Future by Supporting Youth

Youth Are the Future: Accelerating Efforts to Make Haenam a Place to Return and Live

Focus on Key Projects Like 'Youth Public Rental Housing Construction, Youth Village Creation,' Drawing Attention to Youth Policies Addressing Local Extinction

Haenam-gun, Jeollanam-do is accelerating efforts to create a foundation for making Haenam a place where young people want to return to and live.

According to the county on the 10th, with the launch of the 8th civilian administration, Haenam-gun established a Youth Team and is actively discovering and implementing various youth policies to support young people who will lead the region's future.

The most notable area is the improvement of youth housing conditions, securing residential conditions so that young people can settle in the area stably.

First, a total of 60 units of public rental housing for youth will be constructed. Aiming for occupancy in the first half of 2026, the basic and detailed designs are currently underway, with youth and newlyweds as the main tenants.

Efforts are being accelerated to establish a foundation for making Haenam a place where young people want to return and live. Photo by Haenam-gun

Along with this, various housing policies such as repair costs for youth rental housing, housing expenses support for employed youth, and interest support for housing loans for youth and newlyweds are being actively promoted.

In particular, the project to establish the ‘Nungnunggil Youth Complex Space,’ a youth village model-building project, is taking shape amid much interest. This project, linked with the Jeonnam Youth Village Creation Project, aims to develop the area near Okdong Village in Hwangsan-myeon into a youth village by 2026.

The annex of the closed Okdong Elementary School will be remodeled into a youth complex space as a base, and vacant houses and unused spaces in the nearby Okdong, Samho, and Okyeon villages will be utilized to create startup and residential spaces. Before the space is created, youth festivals and camps targeting artists and young people nationwide are actively held, bringing vitality to the area.

The Youth Do Dream Center, opened in 2021, has established itself as a community space for strengthening youth capabilities. At the Youth Do Dream Center, employment counseling and vocational education are provided through the youth job cafe, and programs most needed by youth such as mental health, daily life, and employment are well received. Recently, specialized programs such as interview suit rental, GTQ, computerized accounting, and drone certification classes have been prepared and are being operated solidly.

In line with this, efforts to support youth jobs and startups are also accelerating. Various youth job and startup supports are being provided, including region-led youth job projects, retention incentives, and youth startup support linked to local resources. In particular, the ‘Youth Job Experience Dream’ project, which directly provides jobs to local youth, and the ‘Haenam Youth Startup Support’ project, which supports the economic costs burdening early startups, are gaining attention.

In this regard, Haenam-gun was designated as an Opportunity Development Special Zone in June and is also promoting designation as an Education Development Special Zone, which is expected to be a groundbreaking opportunity to expand youth jobs and residential conditions through attracting advanced companies and improving the educational environment.

A county official said, “As the first task to respond to local extinction, we are implementing various and new youth policies to make Haenam a good place for young people to live,” adding, “It is expected that synergy effects can be achieved in creating a foundation for improving youth residential conditions and job creation, linked with the 2030 Project for fostering Haenam-gun’s future growth engines.”