Kagawa Prefecture Offers Up to ¥1 Million to Renovate Vacant Homes for Foreign Worker Housing
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Kagawa Prefecture has been operating a subsidy program, the "Kagawa Prefecture Foreign Workforce Housing Environment Improvement Project Subsidy," since April 1, 2026, aimed at companies and sole proprietors within the prefecture that employ foreign workers. According to the prefecture's official website, the subsidy covers one-third of eligible expenses for purchasing a vacant home handled by a designated foreign-worker acceptance support company and renovating it as housing for foreign employees, up to a cap of 1 million yen. Eligible costs include renovation work and equipment normally considered structurally integral to the property.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the budget is exhausted. Conditions include that a foreign worker must be scheduled to move in within roughly six months of the renovation's completion, and that the renovation must be completed and reported on by the end of March 2027. The program drew attention on social media in mid-August, with some users questioning the scale of the up-to-1-million-yen subsidy.
Current status: The number of applications received and subsidies disbursed since the program began remain unclear as of this writing. This article will be updated as further details emerge.
Editorial Perspective
Responses at the municipal level play a role in bridging the gap between national policy design and residents' lived experience. Whether a move like this spreads to other municipalities will be worth watching going forward. In particular, whether information-sharing between municipalities facing similar challenges leads to wider adoption of successful approaches may shape how effective this policy area becomes overall.