The Improvement Direction of Urban Public Senior Housing in South Korea

Haeyeon Yoo, and Jiwon Yang

School of Architecture, Soongsil University, South Korea

Abstract: As the issue of an aging society has been raised consistently as a social problem, the Ministry of Land of South Korea, Infrastructure and Transport announced in 2017 that “public senior housing” that would supply housing service customized for the elderly would be planned for a long term, and they would supply from 1,000 homes up to over 5,000 homes per year by 2022.

Thus, for the residential welfare of the elderly, the government is promoting the home remodeling guidelines, housing allowances for recipients of basic living allowances and the supply of residential facilities for the elderly. However, their substantial effect is very little. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the cases of the government-supported welfare housing for the elderly, and based on the analysis, to suggest guidelines for welfare housing for the elderly in Korea.

For analysis, previous studies were reviewed for comprehensive understanding of public housing, and one-on-one interview and a survey were conducted with residents through on-site visit upon approval and cooperation of the administration of corresponding.

The policy of the welfare housing for the elderly should be prepared by reflecting the opinions of all relevant parties including not only the elderly, medical professionals and policy makers, but also residents living with the elderly, facility managers and personnel helping with the care. Particularly, an adequate level of care and integrated medical care housing facilities in consideration of the general conditions of the elderly such as society economy, and culture should be provided. Above all, it should be ensured that care at home and local communities is mainly promoted through the remodeling of existing homes in which the elderly resided, rather than increasing the number of nursing facilities that provide care for the elderly as a group.

Key words: elderly, residential welfare, public rental housing, neighborhood regeneration, senior housing