Changing Household and Housing Statuses in Shrinking Cities of Non-Seoul Metropolitan Area

Abstract

This research is a longitudinal study that describes household and housing characteristics and examines changing households’ assessment on their residential environment by three distinctive groups of shrinking cities located in seven provinces of the non-Seoul Metropolitan Area-Gwandong-Hoseo area, Honam area, and Yongnam area, Using the 4th and 13th Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS), this study employed both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings show that many households in the nine-year period became older, more feminized, and smaller in size while a vast majority of them were home-owners. Although the housing outcomes among three areas were unvaried, the housing status in Honam area was largely improved, Obviously, a growing number of households used social services and most of them heavily depended on in-cash support and Medicaid. It’s noteworthy to witness increased satisfactions with job, housing and leisure out of seven domains of residential environment assessment in the studied period. While households in Honam area were satisfied with all seven components, those in Yongnam area were dissatisfied with health and income statuses. Further, the statistical analysis indicates that the assessment of overall residential environment was positively associated with all seven factors, of which social network and leisure became of significance.