A "bus house" proposal by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Hwang Hee to repurpose scrapped buses as short-term temporary housing for young people near universities has drawn attention on global online communities. Users cited Amsterdam's houseboats in the Netherlands and RV living in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States, criticizing that it "essentially presents a temporary shelter born out of a housing crisis as a policy for dwellings."
Checking the Korea-related forum "r/korea" on the U.S. online community Reddit on the 15th found that an English article by ChosunBiz covering the controversy over Hwang's bus house was recently shared. Reddit is a global online community with an average of 130.3 million daily active users in the second quarter of this year.
On the 7th, Hwang proposed on Facebook converting scrapped buses into living spaces to provide to young people near universities. He estimated that if the expense to refit one bus is set at 50 million won, it would cost 500 billion won to create 10,000 units. He added that it would serve as a temporary living space to use until formal dwellings are secured.
However, as criticism mounted that he viewed the youth housing issue too complacently, Hwang deleted the post. On the 10th, he said, "I failed to fully grasp the gravity of the housing problems young people face on the ground," and added, "I apologize for causing concern and disappointment to the younger generation and the public." The Democratic Party also drew a line, saying the bus house idea was Hwang's personal opinion, not the party's policy.
Reddit users noted that overseas boat- and vehicle-based living is closer to a stopgap that emerged due to high housing costs than a case of solving housing shortages. One user said, "Regardless of party affiliation, the bus house is the most preposterous idea I've heard," adding, "You need to first look at the background of how Amsterdam's houseboats came about."
Another user said, "Houseboats in Amsterdam did not substantively solve the housing crisis," pointing out that it is difficult to use a limited number of houseboats as a large-scale housing supply model. However, there was also a counterargument that it is inaccurate to say houseboats arose simply because of expensive home prices, and that many are now more expensive than ordinary dwellings.
Some compared it to the "vanlord" phenomenon in the San Francisco Bay Area. Vanlord, a combination of van and landlord, refers to someone who secures old RVs and rents them to people who need living space. In high-cost cities like San Francisco and San Jose, some people rent RVs parked on public streets to live in, prompting local governments to implement crackdowns and support measures.
An office worker, a person surnamed Kim (26), said, "If the person who proposed it had imagined living there directly, I wonder whether they would have told young people to live on a bus," adding, "What young people want is not a stopgap but safe and stable living space."
Hwang Yong-sik, a professor in the Department of Business Administration at Sejong University, said, "Without fully examining the background behind the formation of overseas boat- and vehicle-based living and the housing standards young people in Korea want, it should not be applied to youth housing policy."