Korea to teach Vietnam housing policy for working class

Korea will pass on to Vietnam housing policies for the working class such as the National Housing Fund and rental homes, with the U.N. citing Korea’s housing policies as models for developing countries.

To learn about Korea’s housing policies for the working class, 13 Vietnamese public officials and researchers in urban and housing planning arrive in Korea Monday to visit Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. They will return home Saturday.

Vietnam will announce its 2020 strategy for national housing development in March and the visiting Vietnamese will take the lead in devising the strategy by reflecting Korean policies.

With the Vietnamese economy growing at a rapid pace, the country is faced with problems stemming from urbanization and overcrowding. For instance, the population density of Ho Chi Minh City is 3,400 persons per square meter, equivalent to those of Seoul and Busan.

In addition, with housing prices skyrocketing in the wake of the global financial crisis, low-income households have had more difficulty owning homes.

The Vietnamese delegation showed high interest in the National Housing Fund, which helps provide houses to low-income families in a stable manner. The fund secures money through bond issuance and housing subscription savings for building rental homes, helping people take out housing loans, and improving the residential environment.

The director of the housing and real estate bureau of the Vietnamese Construction Ministry, who led the delegation, said, “I heard the National Housing Fund secures funds not only to build houses for the working class but also to support settlements,” adding, “We will set up a similar fund modeled on Korea’s National Housing Fund this year.”

The delegation took deep interest in the Seoul city government’s housing welfare plan and long-term housing rental policies. It commended such policies for being sophisticated and helping low-income households in direct and diverse ways according to their financial conditions.

The housing voucher project spearheaded by the city is a case in point. Under the project, low-income tenants receive financial support of up to 65,000 won (58 U.S. dollars) every month from the city.

In June last year, the beneficiaries of the project started expanding to those who lost their homes due to urban development and those waiting to be eligible for permanent rental homes.

The director said, “Korea’s housing polices have gotten 90 points out of 100,” adding, “Korea also suffered problems in the urbanization process, but the process was a success in general.

“We cannot employ all of Korea’s housing policies immediately because Vietnam is different from Korea in the level of economic development,” he said, adding, “We’ll devise long-term measures looking 20 to 30 years ahead by learning from both the successes and failures of Korea.”

When Hanoi asked for help from the U.N. Human Settlements Program in making policy decisions on housing, the agency contacted the Gangwon Province International Urban Training Center to help the delegation visit Korea. The center was set up in 2006 under a memorandum of understanding between the province and the U.N. agency.

Government officials in Seoul urge the Korean central and provincial governments to make the most of the visit of the Vietnamese delegation to export Korea’s housing policies.

Kim Yoon-kyu, in charge of housing policies for the Seoul Metropolitan Government who headed training for the delegation, said, “This is the first time that a developing country has sent officials to Korea to learn our housing policies,” adding, “We will further strengthen training programs to help other developing countries.”

The export of housing policies can provide good opportunities for Korean builders. A staff member at a large construction company said, “A country using Korea’s housing policies will favor Korean builders experienced in these policies.”

tnf@donga.com