Seoul Hope Plus Savings Accounts: Asset-Building Program for Low-Income Households in Seoul (Second-Year Collaborative Research Report)

For the past 15 years, poverty issues have worsened because of various factors in Korea. This economic decline has hit the working poor individuals and households the most. Although there is increasing interest in asset-building programs in Korea to attack the widespread poverty, little is known about program implementation and potential impacts on working poor households. To address this knowledge gap, this report presents results of a second year quantitative survey and qualitative in-depth interviews conducted in 2010 with participants in the Hope Plus Accounts program and a comparison group. Quantitative and qualitative findings from the 2010 research are then compared to findings from the 2009 baseline research to measure changes in participants and potential program impacts over time.