Help promised for people stuck in banjiha

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Help promised for people stuck in banjiha

The view from a window in a semi-basement apartment, known as banjiha, in Sillim-dong in Gwanak District, southern Seoul [YONHAP]

The view from a window in a semi-basement apartment, known as banjiha, in Sillim-dong in Gwanak District, southern Seoul [YONHAP]

 
Seoul vowed to help people move out of underground or semi-basement apartments after flooding killed some residents last week.
 
The city also promised a special voucher subsidizing monthly rent to help people move above ground into more expensive apartments.
 
Fourteen fatalities were recorded as of Tuesday after flooding from heavy rainfall last week, including the tragic death of three family members who lived in a semi-basement apartment in Sillim-dong in southern Seoul’s Gwanak District.
 
This put the spotlight on banjiha — the cramped half-underground apartments familiar to viewers of the Oscar-winning Korean film “Parasite” — and spurred the city government to stop giving permits to construct banjiha homes in the capital in an announcement made last Wednesday.
 
But basement and semi-basement homes are usually inhabited by low-income families or young people who cannot afford better types of the expensive apartments in Seoul.
 
The main solution offered by the city government is to move the banjiha residents to new units in redeveloped public housing.
 
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, there will be about 118,000 public housing units in Seoul that are more than 30 years old — the threshold for redevelopment — by 2042. The city plans to raise the floor-area ratio during redevelopment of those blocks, leading to the construction of around 230,000 new apartments. 
 
A total of 200,000 households live in basement or semi-basement homes in Seoul, according to Statistics Korea, making up five percent of the total.  
 
The capital city is also trying to find ways to give priority to neighborhoods with previously-flooded semi-underground apartments in the selection process for Seoul’s urban redevelopment plans.
 
Banjiha have lots of problems such as poor ventilation, water leakage and fire. They can be hard to escape in times of emergency, which was the case with last week's tragedy in Sillim-dong.
 
Seoul City announced it will create a new type of voucher that subsidizes monthly rent for banjiha residents that move above ground. The voucher is good for 200,000 won ($152) per month for up to two years.
 
The Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) will purchase banjiha and convert them to non-residential purposes such as warehouses or local community facilities. It also plans to offer incentives to owners of banjiha if they convert existing banjiha to non-residential use.
 
“In addition to short-term measures such as flood-prevention facilities, we will push for fundamental measures to bring semi-basement households above street level,” said Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon in a press release on Monday.
 
“Through cooperation with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, we will help people move to public housing, starting with citizens who faced emergency situations, such as floods and fires,” Oh added.

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
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