Unsecured ‘Youth Safe Housing’

[Anchor]

There is a program called 'Youth Safe Housing' supported by the Seoul city government to alleviate the housing cost burden on young people.

However, some of these are being operated without subscribing to guarantee insurance, causing anxiety among residents.

In fact, there have been cases where deposits were not refunded.

Reporter Yoon Ah-rim has the story.

[Report]

The Youth Safe Housing program in Seoul is popular for its lower deposit and rent compared to market prices.

After more than ten attempts, Mr. Oh was selected but recently found out that the house he won was not subscribed to guarantee insurance.

He feels anxious thinking that he might not be able to get back his deposit of 180 million won.

[Mr. Oh/Expected resident of Youth Safe Housing: "The developer said they would subscribe, as it was written they would, and told me to come and sign the contract first."]

Current regulations mandate that rental business operators must subscribe to guarantee insurance.

Since it is a safety measure for tenants, local governments are supposed to approve the recruitment announcements for residents only after confirming the subscription to guarantee insurance.

However, local governments, which are the ones with approval authority, often do not know this.

[Mr. A/Local government official/voice altered: "There is no case of this (subscribing to guarantee insurance) when reporting supply. If there is no contracting party, you cannot get guarantee insurance."]

Private rental business operators complain that it is difficult to meet the conditions for subscribing to guarantee insurance.

This is because if the loan amount exceeds 60% of the housing price, they cannot subscribe.

[Mr. B/Official from Youth Safe Housing rental business/voice altered: "To lower it to 60%, we are repaying debt relative to the collateral ratio, and we recently adjusted that ratio."]

In fact, in areas like Songpa-gu in Seoul, there have been entire buildings of Youth Safe Housing that were not subscribed to guarantee insurance going to auction, or cases where deposits were not refunded.

[Victim of Youth Safe Housing/voice altered: "(The amount not refunded is) between 24 to 25 million won. It’s almost been three years, and I feel like I’ve been depressed..."]

This year, four Youth Safe Housing locations in Seoul, with over a thousand units, did not subscribe to guarantee insurance.

This is KBS News, Yoon Ah-rim.