Yi Yeong (34), who lives in Seocho-gu, Seoul, has been living in a multiplex housing near Nonhyeon Station, near her workplace since late 2019. She made a 150 million won deposit and pays a monthly rent of 350,000 won for her home. Yi said, “I was lucky to get the contract on the house when it came up for urgent sale, but I always wonder whether I will have to live like this my whole life.” Yi has been a single-person household for a decade since she found employment, and the assistance she wants most from the government is housing support.

Yi said, “I have been putting money into a housing subscription savings account for nearly fifteen years since I was in college, but I can’t even dream of buying a new apartment because I am a one-person household. Besides I can’t even afford to buy a house in Seoul with my salary.” She said, “Public housing for young people and long-term housing leases are only temporary measures, but the government keeps telling us to live on a long-term lease in public housing for young people. I don’t think they know how cruel it sounds to ‘dirt spoons’ like me, who have nowhere to turn to, when they tell us to work hard and earn a lot of money while living in the public housing for young people and buy my own house.” She added, “If I could buy a home by being frugal and saving up a million won every month, I would, but even that is impossible.”

According to the 2020 Seoul Welfare Survey released by the Seoul metropolitan government on April 29, last year, three out of every ten households in Seoul were single-person households. Single-person households accounted for 33.3% of all households, while two-person households accounted for 25.8%, three-person households 20.6%, and four-person households 19.2%.

The latest survey was conducted through interviews of over 4,000 families (9,472 people) in Seoul for two months from last November. According to the survey, young people accounted for the biggest portion of single-person households with 41.2%. Elderly single-person households aged 65 and older accounted for 22.6%, while middle-aged one-person families aged 50-64 accounted for a relatively smaller portion of 16.2%. The reason why middle-aged and elderly people lived alone was mostly because of separation with a spouse, due to divorce, separation or death, which accounted for 68.5% and 80.3% in the respective age groups. Meanwhile, the reason young people lived alone in Seoul was because of the distance from their home to school or workplaces (81.5%).

More than half (58.3%) of single-person households were fairly satisfied with living alone, but they had complaints about various housing policies that were designed for four-person families. The demand for housing support was highest among the younger single-person households with 57.3%, but demand for stable housing was strong among all people who lived alone as can be seen by the demand for housing support among the middle-aged 44.5% and elderly 40.2%. As in the case of Yi earlier, they felt there was not enough institutional support for one-person families who wanted to own a home.

In fact, 30% of all young single-person households knew about public housing for young people near subway stations and the government support for the monthly rents of young people, but only 2.9% and 3.8% used those services respectively. In other words, the various housing policies by government and local governments were being ignored by the young people.

Meanwhile, among all young households of one or more people, most (51.8%) lived in housing leased on a monthly rent with a deposit. Six out of ten households in their twenties lived in a house for a monthly rent and a deposit (60.8%), but a relatively higher percentage of people in their thirties (54.9%) rented homes on jeonse (lump-sum deposit). Only 4.3% of young households owned their own home. The city of Seoul plans to use the results of the latest survey to determine major policies by a special task force for single-person household policies.