## (2) Enhancing safety-net in daily life

Securing housing and smoothly processing what is needed for everyday lifestyles must always be ensured as safety nets in people’s daily life. With an aging society and fewer children, changes in household composition and declining public transport facilities in rural areas, factors which have supported our society are at a turning point. The ministry maintains and ensures functions concerning the very foundations of our daily life to maintain functions and convenience in our daily life, and pushes forward necessary measures to gain regional vitality.

## (a) Housing

## (Formulating safety nets to ensure housing)

In order to allow those who need special attention in securing housing, including low income earners and the elderly, to easily secure homes, the ministry formulates safety nets in terms of housing, including the appropriate provision of publicly-operated housing. Good Quality Regional Rental Housing, UR-affiliated housing and the provision of information services concerning private rental housing that accepts elderly tenants. In addition, the ministry also stabilizes the provision of housing for those displaced workers compelled to leave employer's housing by taking into account employment measures and pushing forward the better use of available housing in publicly-operated housing.

## (Providing convenient housing for the elderly)

To support aging in place in collaboration with welfare policies, the ministry promotes providing barrier-free rental housing with lifestyle supports / nursing care services and redeveloping public rental apartment complexes as community-based welfare facilities. The ministry also financially supports private sectors and NPOs to carry out leading business models.

## (Rebuilding apartment buildings)

To utilize existing apartment buildings as high-quality housing stock, the ministry supports condominium association boards and other parties concerned that work hard for the maintenance and rehabilitation of existing apartments. The ministry also offers support to apartment building rehabilitation projects to meet residents' needs, including the incorporation of more barrier-free features and seismic upgrades.

## (b) Maintaining transport devices to support our lifestyles

## (Maintaining and rehabilitating local public transport systems)

To maintain and rehabilitate public transport, which serves as a community-based means of transportation, the ministry pushed forward comprehensive measures conducted by consultative meetings, which consist of public transport operators and relevant municipalities. In addition, the ministry also supports measures (the establishment of community-based railways) to make community-based, local railways more convenient, in collaboration with consultative meetings, and assists the restructuring of transport businesses through publicly managed privatization.

With the local bus industry facing a difficult business environment, the ministry is striving to maintain existing bus routes and promotes more efficient bus services.

The ministry improves ports and harbors for improving the services on sea routes to and from remote islands, which are indispensable for people living there, and pushes forward related structural reforms, including the promotion of management reforms, such as the privatization of publicly-run entities, the integration of calling ports and the construction of energy-efficient vessels.

## (Enhancing residential roads)

In order to realize safe and comfortable traveling from one place to another within a local community, the ministry pushes forward the improvement and development of road networks leading to the center of residential areas, which will support people’s everyday activities, such as commuting and hospital visits, and the improvement of road networks indispensable for urgent rescue activities. The ministry also proceeds with the elimination of bottlenecks by increasing the width of existing roads and improving bypasses.