저소득가구를 위한 주택임대료지원정책에 관한 연구* -한국의 주거급여제도와 일본의 주택부조제도의 비교분석-

Abstract

This study conducted a comparative analysis of the rent-support policies for low-income households in Korea and Japan. The study focused on the housing benefit system in Korea and the housing assistance system in Japan to carry out a comparative analysis. Both systems are the major rent-support systems for low-income households in Korea and Japan and have the characteristics of a public assistance system. Since 2008, Korea's residential rent market has experienced skyrocketing prices for both housing lease on a deposit basis as well as monthly rents, thereby imposing a heavy burden on low-income households in terms of housing expenses. Thus, rent-support policies have become a quintessential policy challenge in terms of ensuring basic residential supports for them. Against this backdrop, as Korea's National Basic Livelihood Security Act is set to be revised in 2014, the housing benefit system that has been offered based on this Act is subject to significant revision. The key changes include the expansion of the eligible household for the benefits and the modification of application criteria, among others. Thanks to the revision, a household that did not fall into the category of the basic households for national basic livelihood security in accordance with the National Basic Livelihood Security Act will be able to receive housing benefits. This means that the housing benefit system goes beyond the boundary of the national basic livelihood security system and is expanded further. While this expands the eligible recipients of the system, it also has a possibility of reducing the effectiveness of the support by sharing limited budgets among too many recipients. As for Japan, its housing assistance system, which is implemented as a part of the national basic livelihood security system, limits the target to the lowest income households. Instead, the Japanese government fully reflects market rents to ensure feasible and effective rent support making up for this limitation. The study presents an ideal direction for Korea's housing benefit policy through the comparative analysis between both countries’systems and policies.