Gyeonggi Province will renovate 31 abandoned vacant houses this year into spaces for local residents, such as village rest areas and public parking lots.
On the 19th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it will carry out the ‘Vacant House Renovation Support Project,’ which provides up to 30 million KRW per house to assist with demolition (simple demolition or demolition followed by public use such as village rest areas, public parking lots, and community gardens), repair (simple repair or repair followed by public use including rental housing), and safety measures (such as fence installation) targeting vacant houses.
Since 2021, Gyeonggi Province has renovated a total of 294 vacant houses over the past four years through the Vacant House Renovation Support Project. In July last year, it was selected for a Ministry of the Interior and Safety public contest and secured 30 million KRW in national funding. In December last year, it pioneered a model utilizing social capital in the form of private volunteer groups for the vacant house renovation project nationwide, creating a small community park (a park located in leftover land between buildings) from a vacant house in Pocheon City in collaboration with the KMS Volunteer Group active in Pocheon.
Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province introduced a new method last year where the city directly renovates vacant houses to reduce the renovation burden on vacant house owners and accelerate support for vacant house renovation.
On the 16th, Gyeonggi Province revised the Vacant House Renovation Guidelines to require local governments to establish more detailed vacant house renovation plans by mandating prior consultation with the governor before conducting public hearings. Additionally, it actively encourages vacant house owners to consent to the disclosure of vacant house information to promote sales and leasing of vacant houses.
Gyeonggi Province requested the government to grant the ‘Second Home’ (considered as one house) tax benefit not only to areas with population decline but also to vacant houses in Dongducheon City and Pocheon City, which are designated as population decline interest areas, by freezing property tax during the period of public use after demolition of vacant houses last year.
Kim Tae-su, Director of Urban Regeneration at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "Since last year, we have been demolishing abandoned vacant houses that were treated as eyesores in urban areas and encouraging public use of the land so that nearby residents can also benefit from the vacant house renovation support project. This year, we will actively promote the renovation of abandoned vacant houses to prevent safety accidents and crimes and improve the urban landscape."
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