🚨 Minimum Housing Standards

Today Korean Social News for Beginners | 2025.09.22

0️⃣ High Housing Supply but Persistent Housing Poverty and Quality Improvement Challenges

📌 Gyeongnam Province: High Housing Supply Rate but 48,000 Households Below 'Minimum Housing Standards'

💬 In Gyeongnam Province, about 3.5% of the 1.39 million households—roughly 48,000 households—do not meet minimum housing standards. Particularly, 87% of goshiwon (small room rentals) households lack proper area and facility standards, showing serious housing poverty among young people. High rates of substandard housing also appear among elderly and disabled households, highlighting problems for vulnerable housing groups. While Gyeongnam has a housing supply rate of 109.1%, higher than the national average, the actual quality is poor due to public rental housing supply areas being smaller than demand. Researchers emphasize the need to expand medium-small public rentals that meet minimum housing standards and make housing allowances more realistic.

💡 Summary

• Minimum housing standards are the basic requirements for citizens to have decent housing.
• Even with high housing supply rates, many households still fail to meet area, facility, and safety standards.
• Policy improvements are urgently needed to solve housing poverty among young people and vulnerable housing groups.

1️⃣ Definition

Minimum housing standards means the basic requirements set to guarantee citizens can have decent housing. According to the Housing Basic Law, this includes minimum area based on household size, number of rooms, essential facilities (kitchen, bathroom, etc.), and structural and environmental requirements for safety and comfort.

This is an important standard because the government must legally guarantee housing quality, not just increase the number of houses. It serves as a social safety net to guarantee all citizens' right to live in at least minimum decent housing conditions.

💡 Why is this important?

• It's the key standard that guarantees basic housing rights for all citizens.
• It serves as a guideline that presents goals and directions for housing welfare policies.
• It becomes the standard for identifying housing-poor populations and selecting policy targets.
• It provides legal basis for public rental housing supply and housing allowance support.

2️⃣ Specific Contents and Current Status of Minimum Housing Standards

📕 Four Elements of Minimum Housing Standards

• Area standards are the most basic element. Main standards are:

  • Single-person households need at least 14㎡, 2-person households need 26㎡, 3-person households need 36㎡.
  • 4-person households need 43㎡, 5-person households need 46㎡, 6-person households need 55㎡ or more.
  • Area is based on floor space of rooms used for living, such as living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.
  • Balconies, utility rooms, stairs, etc. are excluded—only actual living spaces are counted.

• Number and composition of rooms are also important standards. Main contents are:

  • Married couples should be able to use separate bedrooms.
  • Children aged 8 or older should use different rooms from their parents.
  • Children of different sexes aged 8 or older should use separate rooms from each other.
  • When three generations live together, including elderly parents, separate bedrooms should be secured for each generation.

📕 Facility and Safety Standards

• Essential facilities must be complete. Main facilities are:

  • There must be private kitchen and bathroom facilities, and bathing facilities.
  • Safe drinking water must be available through water supply or groundwater.
  • Sewage treatment facilities through sewers or septic tanks are needed.
  • Appropriate fuel such as city gas, LPG, or electricity must be available.

• Structural safety and environmental conditions must also be met. Main standards are:

  • Must be a building under the Building Act and structurally safe.
  • Lighting, ventilation, soundproofing, and moisture-proofing must be good.
  • Must have a structure that allows safe evacuation during disasters like fires.
  • For single-family houses, living in basement or semi-basement levels is generally not allowed.

💡 Main Causes of Failing to Meet Minimum Housing Standards

1. Living in goshiwons/small rooms: Non-housing residences lacking area and facilities
2. Underground/semi-underground houses: Failing to meet safety and environmental conditions
3. Divided multi-family rentals: Facility shortages due to illegal modifications
4. Old rural houses: Lack of water supply/sewage and bathroom facilities
5. Economic burden: High rent for housing that meets standards

3️⃣ Housing Poverty Status and Policy Challenges

✅ National and Regional Substandard Status

• Housing poverty problems continue nationwide. Main status is:

  • As of 2022, 5.5% of about 22 million households nationwide—1.2 million households—fail to meet minimum housing standards.
  • In metropolitan areas, young people's goshiwon residence is increasing due to high housing costs.
  • In rural areas, lack of facilities in old houses appears as the main problem.
  • Single-person households and elderly households show relatively high rates of failing to meet standards.

• Problems among vulnerable housing groups are serious. Main status is:

  • Young people stay in poor housing conditions like goshiwons and small rooms due to lack of economic power.
  • Elderly households find it difficult to improve housing conditions due to income reduction and health deterioration.
  • Disabled households often live in houses lacking accessibility and convenience facilities.
  • Housing poverty among vulnerable families like single-parent families and grandparent-grandchild families is also at serious levels.

✅ Policy Improvement Direction

• Quality improvement of public rental housing is needed. Main improvement measures are:

  • Supply area should expand from existing small-sized focus to medium-small sized.
  • High-quality public housing with complete essential facilities and convenience facilities should be increased.
  • Customized supply plans considering regional demand and characteristics are needed.
  • Remodeling of existing public housing and facility improvements should also be carried out.

• Making housing allowances and support systems realistic is urgent. Main measures are:

  • Housing allowance payment amounts should be made realistic to match actual housing cost levels.
  • Youth housing allowance expansion and lease loan support should be strengthened.
  • Repair and maintenance allowances for housing environment improvement should be increased.
  • Housing counseling and information services should be expanded to increase accessibility.

4️⃣ Related Term Explanations

🔎 Housing Basic Law

• The Housing Basic Law is a basic law to guarantee citizens' housing rights.
  • The Housing Basic Law is legislation enacted in 2015 to guarantee all citizens' right to live decent housing lives in comfortable housing environments, free from physical and social dangers. This law presents basic directions and principles for housing policy and specifies duties of the national and local governments.
  • Main contents include: First, declaring housing rights as citizens' basic rights. Second, specifying minimum housing standards in law to stipulate the government's guarantee obligations. Third, requiring establishment of comprehensive housing plans and local housing plans. Fourth, requiring regular housing condition surveys. Fifth, requiring establishment of housing welfare centers and housing welfare delivery systems.
  • With this law's enactment, housing welfare policy shifted from a welfare dimension to a rights dimension, and it became a turning point for the government's housing policy paradigm to change from quantitative supply to quality improvement.

🔎 Housing Allowance

• Housing allowance is a cash support system to reduce low-income households' housing cost burden.
  • Housing allowance is a housing welfare system that comprehensively considers income, housing type, and housing cost burden levels to support low-income households with rent or repair/maintenance costs. It was reorganized into its current form in 2014 when existing housing allowances were transferred to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
  • Support targets are households below 47% of median income. For rental households, support is provided based on actual rent within regional standard rent limits. For homeowner households, repair and maintenance allowances for house renovation are supported. As of 2024, targets are single-person households with monthly income of 970,000 won or less, and 4-person households with 2.53 million won or less.
  • Recently, system improvements such as introducing youth housing allowances, allowing household separation when living separately from parents, and making standard rents realistic are providing substantial help to housing-poor populations.

🔎 Non-Housing Residence

• Non-housing residence means living arrangements in places that are not legally houses.
  • Non-housing residence means living in places not classified as housing under the Building Act, such as goshiwons, small rooms, inns, saunas, homeless facilities, containers, shacks, and shanties, or residing in places not used for housing purposes.
  • Most of these residential forms fail to meet minimum housing standards. In goshiwons, room areas are only 3-7㎡, far below the 14㎡ standard for single-person households, and individual bathrooms or kitchens are often absent. Small rooms have even more limited areas and poor ventilation or lighting.
  • According to Statistics Korea's Population and Housing Census, about 380,000 people lived in non-housing as of 2020, with many being young people and elderly. The government operates public rental housing supply expansion and housing improvement support programs for them, but the situation is still insufficient.

5️⃣ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: How can I check if my current home meets minimum housing standards?

A: You can check by examining four standards in order: area, room composition, facilities, and safety.

• You can directly check whether minimum housing standards are met. First, for area standards, check if single-person households have 14㎡ or more, 2-person households have 26㎡ or more, 3-person households have 36㎡ or more. Calculate only the floor area of rooms actually used for living. Second, look at room composition. Married couples should have separate bedrooms, children aged 8 or older should use different rooms from parents, and children of different sexes should use separate rooms from each other. Third, check if there are private kitchen and bathroom facilities, bathing facilities, and water supply/sewage connections. Fourth, check if it's a permitted building and if lighting and ventilation are good.
• If you don't meet the standards, please get counseling at housing welfare centers or local community centers. You may qualify for housing allowances or public rental housing applications, and you can also receive housing environment improvement support. You can also check related information on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's MyHome Portal.

Q: What support can households failing to meet minimum housing standards receive?

A: Various housing welfare services such as housing allowances, public rental housing, and housing environment improvement support are available.

• Various support systems exist for households failing to meet minimum housing standards. First, you can apply for housing allowances. Households below 47% of median income can receive rent support or house repair cost support. For young people, separate household division is possible, making it more advantageous. Second, you can apply for public rental housing occupancy. You can become priority occupancy targets for permanent rentals, national rentals, happy housing, etc. Third, you can receive housing environment improvement support. Support for wallpapering, flooring, bathroom renovation, etc. is possible.
• Applications can be made at local community centers or online, and comprehensive counseling and customized services are provided at each region's housing welfare centers. Since support contents vary according to income and asset standards, it's good to receive accurate counseling.

Q: I'm living in a goshiwon and want to move to a place that meets minimum housing standards. What should I do?

A: Please actively use housing improvement support programs and youth housing welfare policies.

• Housing improvement support for goshiwon residents is expanding. First, apply for youth housing allowances. If you're under 30, you can receive housing allowances separately from parents, getting up to 320,000 won monthly for rent support. Second, apply for youth-exclusive public rental housing. There are youth priority supply quantities in happy housing, purchase rental housing, etc. Third, use lease fund loans. Butimi lease fund loans are available at low interest rates of 1-2% annually. Fourth, also check youth monthly rent temporary support funds.
• If you need help during the application process, please get counseling at local housing welfare centers or Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) Youth Centers. Online integrated applications are possible through the MyHome Portal. Even if it takes some time, systematic preparation will allow you to move to better housing conditions.

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