Deputy minister vows to expand affordable dormitories to ease housing burden on college students

"We will consistently expand happy dormitories to ease the housing burden on college students," Kim I-tak, first vice minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said Wednesday. "We also plan to actively supply shared youth housing, in which the Korea Land and Housing Corporation purchases homes and re-leases them at affordable rates."

Kim made the remarks at the opening ceremony for Ludia House, a happy dormitory at Kyungin Women's University in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, on Wednesday afternoon, where he inspected the facility and reaffirmed the government's commitment to reducing housing costs for young people.

Ludia House features single rooms measuring 17.4 square meters and shared single rooms of 26.8 square meters, along with communal laundry facilities, a reading room and a fitness center.

The happy dormitory program provides low-interest loans from the Housing and Urban Fund to the Korea Private School Promotion Foundation at a 1.5 percent interest rate to build affordable, well-equipped dormitories for college students who have difficulty commuting. Since 2012, the program has supported 80 projects totaling 1.06 trillion won ($799 million), providing accommodation for more than 50,000 students.

In his address, Kim said he took great satisfaction in seeing happy dormitories built through Housing and Urban Fund support, allowing students to focus fully on their studies and self-development without worrying about housing costs. He added that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had announced last month, as part of its residential stability plan, that it would provide tailored housing welfare aligned with life stages, and that the expansion of happy dormitories and shared youth housing would proceed in line with that commitment.