ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the housing issues of the poor, and examines the evolving role of government in addressing these issues. It considers the problem of meeting the basic human right to housing in Korea. The chapter discusses the quantity and quality of low-income housing per se and also considers the social dimension of the low-income housing crisis, for any discussion of housing is incomplete without incorporating its social dimension and acknowledging a sense of collective social responsibility. The main goals of government housing policy during the 1982-1986 period were to stabilize housing prices and expand affordable housing to low-income families. Adverse economic circumstances increased the ranks of low-income people and led to difficulties for housing finance institutions. The government target for social housing production was changed from 250,000 dwelling units to 190,000 units after September 1991 because of the public sector's shortage of available funds.
