| An Analysis of Housing Welfare for the Elderly in Rural Areas and Policy Recommendations | |||
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| Author | Jung, Moonsoo | ||
| Views | 29204 | Publication Date | 2022.03.21 |
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Purpose of Research ○Starting in advanced nations where population aging is a serious concern, many countries consider “aging in place” a primary topic for policymakers. Korea also sees that aged people want to spend the rest of their lives in their residential areas rather than in hospitals or care facilities. However, local communities have not provided sufficient housing and welfare services to satisfy such needs. In particular, rural areas have relatively worse housing and infrastructure conditions and low access to the central districts with essential services. Against this backdrop, this study explores the state of rural conditions for the aged in terms of housing, villages, and communities to identify housing and welfare needs. It suggests policy directions based on the concept of aging in place. Research Method ○This study examines domestic laws and regulations specifying rural housing welfare for the aged. It explores the policy endeavors of the central/ local governments and communities to improve rural housing conditions. Furthermore, it uses the gridded population data per square kilometer by the National Geographic Information Institute and the Korea housing survey by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to find the living state of the elderly in rural areas and their needs for housing welfare. Based on the gridded data, this study selects 22 villages for on-site inspection out of 399 grid cells (1km X 1km) where the residents aged 65 or over take more than 80% of the whole population. It surveys 440 people in the selected villages and conducts an on-site inspection to check specific residental information and policy needs that are not available through national statistical data. Lastly, this study examines communal residential facilities for the aged in cities/ counties and local communities to identify related housing and welfare needs. (For more information, please refer to the report.) |
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