Supplying Youth Housing, Creating Jobs, and Expanding Cultural and Lifestyle Infrastructure
Building a City Where Young People Gather
Hong Nam-pyo, Mayor of Changwon:
"We Will Do Our Utmost to Ensure Young People Can Fully Realize Their Dreams and Hopes"
Changwon in Gyeongnam is a major city with a population of one million and is the only special city outside the Seoul metropolitan area. However, since 2011, its population has been steadily declining, with a particularly noticeable outflow of young people. Experts advise that to address this, changes are needed across the city, including an industrial restructuring as well as improvements in housing, education, and culture.
In response, Changwon Special City is working to lay the foundation for young people to dream and grow through practical youth policies, aiming to create a vibrant city that attracts young residents. In addition, the city is pushing for innovation in all areas of municipal administration?work, finance, and organization?to build a more flexible and efficient administrative system, thereby strengthening the implementation of user-centered policies.
◆Changwon, a City Where Young People Gather
Changwon City is implementing policies that directly address the needs of young people, enabling them to achieve the lives they desire. The city is focusing on expanding quality jobs, providing stable housing support, and creating diverse cultural and leisure spaces so that young people want to stay in Changwon. Furthermore, it is actively supporting youth entrepreneurship and job-seeking activities to help young people nurture their dreams and settle down stably in the region.
First, the city plans to supply 2,000 units of youth housing over the next five years to ensure housing stability for young people. In February, the city established the institutional foundation by enacting the "Changwon City Public Contribution-Type Youth Housing Support Ordinance." Additionally, the city is helping to reduce the burden of housing costs through support for monthly rent, newlywed home purchases, and interest on jeonse (long-term lease) loans.
Moreover, by conducting surveys on the housing conditions of Changwon's youth and establishing a basic plan for the residential environment, the city is solidifying its housing support system. It is investing 5.6 billion KRW in seven projects, including youth monthly rent support (1,551 households), support for newlyweds' jeonse and home purchase loan interest (1,224 households), and guarantees for jeonse deposit returns (500 households), to provide comprehensive housing support for young people.
In the fields of jobs and education, the city will invest 26 billion KRW in 32 projects and strengthen youth job and education support in connection with local businesses and universities to provide quality employment. The city will support local universities in transitioning to glocal universities and selecting them for related programs, and will systematically cultivate innovative talent to lead the Fourth Industrial Revolution in areas such as software and smart port/logistics.
To enable young people to gain experience in new industries within the city, the city provides on-site training opportunities through new industry-linked job programs (150 people) and work experience support programs (40 people). Additionally, to discover young entrepreneurs and help early-stage startups stabilize, the city is promoting the creation of an additional C-Blue Wing Fund, entrepreneurship competency training, youth technology startup allowances, and rent support programs.
In June last year, the youth culture and arts complex space Sponge Park opened on Changwon Garosu-gil. From this year, its operation will shift from direct management to a consignment system under the Youth Vision Center. Through this, young people?the policy beneficiaries?will be able to plan and expand a wider variety of events and programs from their own perspective.
◆Administrative Innovation for a Sustainable Changwon
The city is continuously pursuing administrative innovation in all areas of municipal affairs, including internal finance, organization, and operations, to establish organizational sustainability and strengthen its capacity to implement user-centered administration. Through ongoing management, the city is reinforcing fiscal soundness and, by operating the organization strategically and enhancing staff capabilities, is committed to providing substantial administrative services that citizens can truly feel.
Immediately after the launch of the 8th popularly elected administration, the city saved 440 billion KRW through strong expenditure restructuring and repaid 34.3 billion KRW in debt early. Rather than indiscriminately securing national funds, the city focused on obtaining high-quality national funding that would genuinely benefit Changwon's development, thereby improving the practicality of fiscal investments. The city also established a new fiscal strategy meeting to implement a strategic fiscal management system.
Furthermore, the scope of fiscal disclosure, previously limited to city budgets and local subsidy projects, has been expanded to include private consignment projects, increasing transparency. The city now plans to establish and promote strategies to expand non-tax revenue, enact regulations for non-tax revenue management, and build a cost management system related to revenue.
The city has carried out organic organizational restructuring centered on key tasks, focusing on strategic organizational management. Through reorganizations to strengthen functions for nuclear industry recovery, preparation for future industries such as medical and bio, climate crisis, safety, and responses to population and youth issues, the city has realized its future vision and responded agilely to rapidly changing environments.
In addition, the city has regularly recruited and appointed external experts and strategists, such as defense industry and nuclear power special advisors and nuclear finance policy officers, to add expertise and flexibility to the otherwise rigid administrative organization.
The city is shifting the basis of all municipal administration to a user-centered approach. By streamlining unnecessary committees and procedures, the city is focusing on strategic planning and concrete implementation plans tailored to the policy needs of citizens. In addition, the city is systematizing disorganized work processes according to laws and principles and has strengthened responsible administration centered on department heads by revising the office delegation regulations.
Going forward, the city plans to continuously enhance the capabilities of staff who directly implement policies through professional training and expert seminars, and to establish a system that utilizes talent in the right place at the right time through systematic verification.
Hong Nam-pyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City, emphasized, "To ensure that young people can fully realize their dreams and hopes, Changwon City will actively implement practical support policies for youth in areas such as housing, jobs, and cultural life." He added, "To realize policies that all citizens?not just young people?can truly feel, we will strengthen our capabilities through innovation in finance, organization, and operations, and respond effectively to the rapidly changing administrative environment."
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