Subsidies for Closed School Reuse: All 6 Ministries Covered [2026 Edition]

The Programs at a Glance

MEXT's list as of April 2026, and how programs divide by eligible applicant

One program is rarely enough to fund a closed school reuse. Which programs you can use depends on the new use and on who applies.

MEXT lists the main national subsidy programs usable for closed school facilities, sorted by type of new use. In the list as of April 2026, the responsible agency column names the Japan Sports Agency, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Children and Families Agency, MHLW, MIC, MAFF, the Forestry Agency, MLIT and the Cabinet Office.[1]

The Japan Sports Agency and the Agency for Cultural Affairs are external agencies of MEXT (MEXT Establishment Act), the Forestry Agency is an external agency of MAFF (MAFF Establishment Act), and the Children and Families Agency is an external agency of the Cabinet Office (Children and Families Agency Establishment Act, Article 2). This guide puts each external agency's programs in its parent ministry's section, giving six sections: MEXT, MAFF, MLIT, MIC, the Cabinet Office and MHLW. Program names and details change from year to year, so check the list and the rules for the year you apply.

By Eligible Applicant

Programs divide by who is eligible to apply.

A municipality can also take the subsidy, renovate the building and let a private operator use it. Some programs, however, such as MIC's Idle Facility Redevelopment Project, do not in principle fund facilities that compete with private businesses (see the MIC section).

Program Map

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MEXT Programs

Simplified property disposal procedures, and the Japan Sports Agency and Agency for Cultural Affairs programs on the list

Property Disposition Streamlining

MEXT's main ministry takes part in closed school reuse not through subsidies but by simplifying the property disposal procedures.

When a school facility built with national subsidies is used for non-school purposes within the restricted period, the local government must obtain the approval of the Minister of Education and repay the subsidy share to the treasury. To promote the use of closed schools and spare classrooms, MEXT is simplifying these procedures, for example by waiving repayment and letting a report complete the procedure where certain requirements are met.[3] The requirements are set out in the notice. Approval is deemed given on submission of a report, with no treasury repayment, for a rent-free disposal of buildings 10 or more years after the subsidized work was completed, for the disposals listed in Appended Table 1 of the notice, and for similar cases. The conversions to public or government use in Appended Table 1 are limited to those not for profit, such as a building of a school closed through a merger that itself received a national subsidy. For a paid disposal of buildings 10 or more years after completion, no treasury repayment is needed if an amount at least equal to the subsidy share is put into a fund for school facility development.[4]

Count from the completion of the subsidized work, not from the year the building went up. MEXT publishes the procedure in the "Property Disposition Procedures Handbook" (March 2026). What needs only a report, and what needs no procedure at all, is summarized in Step 3 of "How to Repurpose an Abandoned School".

MEXT's List of Subsidy Programs

MEXT's Minna no Haiko Project page posts the list above as "Subsidy programs available for using closed school facilities", and notes that each program has requirements and that questions about details should go to the office in charge at the responsible agency.[5] The list also includes programs of MEXT's external agencies. The Japan Sports Agency row is the sports promotion lottery grant of the Japan Sport Council (grants for community sports facilities), and the Agency for Cultural Affairs rows cover projects such as repairs to buildings designated as Important Cultural Properties or registered as Tangible Cultural Properties.[1]

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MAFF Programs

The farm-stay, settlement and exchange, industry support and agriculture-welfare types of the Rural Promotion Grant, and Forestry Agency programs

MAFF supports areas working on farm stays with organizational set-up, work to polish tourism content that uses local resources, and development of lodging and similar facilities that use old houses, closed schools and the like.[6] This support sits within the Local Resource Value Creation Measures of the Rural Promotion Grant (Nōsan Gyoson Shinkō Kōfukin).

Rural Promotion Grant: Farm-Stay Type

The Facility Development Project for Creating Value from Local Resources (farm-stay type) supports development of lodging, dining, and hands-on or exchange facilities that use old houses and similar buildings needed to promote farm stays. The project period is up to two years, the grant rate is 1/2, and the cap is ¥25 million per project period. The cap is raised in cases such as renovating idle assets. Funds go to core corporations and similar bodies, either directly from the national government or through the prefecture.[7]

Organizational set-up and tourism content development are supported by the promotion project of the same type (fixed amount). The program is run by the Urban-Rural Exchange Division of the Rural Development Bureau. Check each year's call for applications for timing and requirements.

Rural Promotion Grant: Settlement and Exchange, Industry Support, and Agriculture-Welfare Types

Within the Facility Development Project for Creating Value from Local Resources, the settlement and exchange type and the industry support type support processing and sales facilities for farm, forest and fishery products and inter-regional exchange hubs, and the agriculture-welfare type supports production facilities where persons with disabilities and others work. The settlement and exchange type and the industry support type are paid to local governments, and through them also to groups organized by farmers, foresters or fishers. The farm-stay type and the agriculture-welfare type are paid to private groups, regional councils and similar bodies.[7] Grant rates and caps differ by type and applicant, so check the call for applications.

In MEXT's list, the settlement and exchange type is run by the Regional Development Division of the Rural Development Bureau. The Forestry Agency rows list two forestry and wood industry measures that include "development of wooden public buildings", for public facilities such as exchange facilities.[1]

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MLIT Programs

How the Urban Renewal Development Plan Projects work, the formula for the grant cap, and other MLIT programs on the list

Comprehensive Grant for Social Infrastructure Development (Urban Renewal Development Plan Projects)

Under the Act on Special Measures concerning Urban Renaissance, a municipality draws up an urban renewal development plan for developing the public facilities needed for urban renewal, and publishes it once drawn up (Article 46). To use the grant for the plan's projects, the municipality submits the plan to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the national government may pay the grant within its budget (Article 47).

In MEXT's list, this program appears against conversions to "facilities needed for community development, such as community exchange centres and tourism exchange centres". It suits a model in which the municipality renovates the building and a private operator uses it. For a school renovation to be funded, the project has to be written into the urban renewal development plan.

Formula for the grant cap

The grant cap for Urban Renewal Development Plan Projects is (1/2) × α, plus an addition for projects carried out by specified nonprofit corporations and similar bodies. α is the lesser of 4/5 of the eligible project costs and 10/9 of the costs of projects other than proposal projects. In districts that meet requirements and deadlines, such as urgent urban renewal areas, priority areas of certified historic landscape plans and decarbonization leading areas, 4/5 becomes 9/10.[8]

Leaving out the addition and multiplying through, the cap comes to 40% of eligible project costs, or 45% in qualifying districts (our calculation).

Other MLIT Programs on MEXT's List

The list also includes two other MLIT programs: the Intensive Support Program for Urban Structure Reorganization, for facilities designated in a location normalization plan (medical, social welfare, educational and cultural, and child-rearing support facilities), and the Comprehensive Support Program for Vacant House Measures and the Vacant House Regeneration Promotion Project, for reuse of vacant houses by municipalities under a vacant house plan.[1]

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MIC Programs

Eligibility, rate, cap and assessment points of the Idle Facility Redevelopment Project, and depopulation bonds

Idle Facility Redevelopment Project (Grant for the Sustainable Development of Depopulated Areas)

The Idle Facility Redevelopment Project develops facilities that reuse idle buildings in depopulated areas for inter-regional exchange and local development. Eligible recipients are municipalities with depopulated areas, and partial-affairs associations and similar bodies in which at least half of the member municipalities have depopulated areas. One requirement is that the project makes effective use of idle buildings such as unused houses, school buildings and other facilities no longer used for their original purpose. The grant is one third of eligible costs, and eligible costs are capped at ¥60 million per project.[9] The FY2026 call for applications assesses, among other points, whether renovating the idle building has become the goal in itself and whether the expected use of the facility (target occupancy) is soundly estimated. The project must be written into the municipality's sustainable development plan for depopulated areas as an FY2026 project, and facilities that compete with private businesses are not eligible in principle. Work must be carried out within FY2026 and, in principle, cannot be carried over to the following year.[10]

Depopulated area designations:

As of 1 April 2022, 885 municipalities contain depopulated areas under the Act on Special Measures for Supporting the Sustainable Development of Depopulated Areas (713 wholly depopulated, 158 partly depopulated and 14 deemed depopulated).[11]

Depopulation Bonds (Kaso-sai)

Among the measures under the Act on Special Measures for Supporting the Sustainable Development of Depopulated Areas, 70% of principal and interest repayments on depopulation countermeasure bonds is covered through local allocation tax.[12] Where the bonds can be used for work the municipality carries out itself, they lighten its real burden. Whether they can be used is a matter for the municipality's sustainable development plan for depopulated areas and the bond procedures.

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Cabinet Office Programs

The Regional Future Grant's subsidy rate and caps, earlier program names, and Children and Families Agency programs

Regional Future Grant (Regional Future Promotion Type)

The Regional Future Grant was created in the FY2025 supplementary budget. The Regional Future Promotion type broadly supports local governments' own initiatives, such as raising the added value of local industries. For non-capital projects and hub facility projects, the project period is in principle up to three fiscal years (five at most), the subsidy rate is 1/2, and national funding per local government is capped at ¥1.5 billion a year for prefectures and central core cities and ¥1 billion a year for other municipalities (single-year caps are guidelines). Projects that combine capital and non-capital elements are accepted in a single application.[13] A local government seeking the Regional Future Promotion type draws up a regional revitalization plan describing the projects the grant will fund, and applies for its certification. Non-capital projects include projects that promote tourism, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and other industries, and hub facility projects develop the facilities needed to carry out non-capital projects.[14]

Relevance to closed school reuse:

An initiative based at a closed school can qualify if it is written into a regional revitalization plan in line with the local comprehensive strategy. Developing the facility is a hub facility project; initiatives such as promoting tourism or industry are non-capital projects.

Earlier program names:

The same document's chart of initial budgets shows the Regional Revitalization Promotion Grant and related grants from FY2016 to FY2022, the Digital Garden City Nation Initiative Grant in FY2023 and FY2024, the Grant for Creating New Regional Economies and Living Environments in FY2025, and the Regional Future Grant in FY2026.[13] If an older document names an earlier program, check it again against the current one.

Nurseries, Certified Centres and After-School Children's Clubs (Children and Families Agency)

In MEXT's list, the programs for which the Children and Families Agency is responsible are as follows.[1]

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MHLW Programs

Eligible facility categories and cost shares of the Social Welfare Facility Development Subsidy

Social Welfare Facility Development Subsidy

This subsidy applies when a closed school is converted into a disability welfare service establishment or a similar facility. In MEXT's list, the only MHLW row is this subsidy for "facilities for persons with disabilities and similar", run by the Welfare Division for Persons with Disabilities in the Social Welfare and War Victims' Relief Bureau.

Facilities eligible for the social welfare facility development subsidy are protective facilities (relief facilities and similar under Article 38 of the Public Assistance Act), child welfare facilities (residential facilities for children with disabilities and similar under Article 7 of the Child Welfare Act), facilities for persons with disabilities (disability welfare service establishments and similar under Article 5 of the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities), and other facilities (social work sheltered workshops and similar under Article 2, paragraph 2 of the Social Welfare Act). When a social welfare corporation or similar body develops a facility, the national government covers one half of the development cost in principle, and the prefecture (including designated and core cities) covers one quarter for the facility operator. The remaining quarter falls to the social welfare corporation or similar body.[2]

Eligible facility categories:

Disability welfare services under Article 5 of the Act on Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities include daily life care, transition support for employment, continuous employment support and group living assistance. Ask the office in charge at the prefecture (or designated or core city) whether your project is eligible and when applications are taken.

Nurseries, certified centres and after-school children's clubs fall under Children and Families Agency programs (see the Cabinet Office section). For facilities for older people, the same MHLW page lists a separate program, the Grant for Community Care and Welfare Space Development, run by the Health and Welfare Bureau for the Elderly.

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Points to Check When Combining Programs

Whether the same cost can be funded twice, eligible applicants, application windows, and candidate combinations

Whether the same cost can be funded twice

Whether a construction cost can receive more than one national subsidy is set program by program. For Urban Renewal Development Plan Projects, the law states that the national government does not pay contributions or subsidies under the Road Act or other laws toward the costs of projects funded by the grant (Act on Special Measures concerning Urban Renaissance, Article 47, paragraph 3). If you combine programs, split the costs by facility or expense item and check that each part fits the eligible costs in the relevant rules.

Eligible applicants

The programs you can use differ between a model where the municipality applies, renovates and lets a private operator use the building, and one where the private body applies directly. Decide this first, using the table in "By Eligible Applicant" above.

Application windows

Each program has its own annual application window. The FY2026 call for the Idle Facility Redevelopment Project covers work that can be carried out within FY2026 and, in principle, does not allow carry-over to the following year (see the MIC section). Align the award timing with the construction schedule.

Candidate Combinations

Each of these is a candidate only where the costs can be split. Check each program's rules on whether funding can be combined.

Conversion to a disability welfare establishment (rural area)

MHLW: Social Welfare Facility Development Subsidy (for development by a social welfare corporation or similar body: national 1/2 in principle, prefecture 1/4)
MAFF: Rural Promotion Grant, agriculture-welfare type (production facilities where persons with disabilities and others work)

Community exchange hub (municipality with an urban renewal development plan)

MLIT: Comprehensive Grant for Social Infrastructure Development, Urban Renewal Development Plan Projects (public facilities written into the municipality's plan)
Cabinet Office: Regional Future Grant, Regional Future Promotion type (non-capital projects in a regional revitalization plan, subsidy rate 1/2)
MHLW: Social Welfare Facility Development Subsidy (the disability welfare establishment portion)

Farm-stay or hands-on facility (depopulated area)

MAFF: Rural Promotion Grant, farm-stay type (lodging and similar facilities, grant rate 1/2, capped at ¥25 million per project period)
MIC: Idle Facility Redevelopment Project (renovation of idle buildings by municipalities with depopulated areas and similar bodies, one third of eligible costs)
Cabinet Office: Regional Future Grant, Regional Future Promotion type (non-capital projects such as tourism promotion)

For renovation cost structure, see "Closed School Renovation Costs: Breakdown by Cost Item and Case Examples." For the complete closed school reuse process, see "Complete Guide to Closed School Reuse — Facility Selection to Proposal."

Closed School Renovation Costs: Breakdown by Cost Item and Case Examples

This article's unit cost assumptions by item, the installation conditions for fire safety equipment and accessibility, and renovation costs from MEXT's case collection.

Abandoned School × Welfare Facility Revenue Model

Using Type B continuous employment support as the example: base fee tiers from June 2026, the rule on user wages, how to work out facility cost differences, and three cases.

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What to do next

When developing a school reuse plan and renovation budget, check the following matters.

Check operator interest and requirements before finalizing the use, and take prospective demand into account when developing the reuse plan.

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References

Main National Subsidy Programs Available for Using Closed School Facilities (as of April 2026) — Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (April 2026)

Overview of Property Disposal Procedures for Public School Facility Subsidies — Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2026)

Survey on the Utilization Status of Closed School Facilities (FY2024) — Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (March 2025)

Promotion of Nōhaku (farm stays) — Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2026)

FY2026 Budget: The Farm-Stay Promotion Type — Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2026)

Comprehensive Grant for Social Infrastructure Development Grant Rules (last amended 7 April 2026), Appendix Part 3: Calculation of National Funding — Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (April 2026)

Grant Rules and Forms for the Grant for the Sustainable Development of Depopulated Areas — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (March 2024)

FY2026 Call for Applications: Settlement Reorganization Project and Idle Facility Redevelopment Project in Depopulated Areas — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2026)

List of Depopulated Municipalities (as of 1 April 2022) — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2022)

Overview of the Act on Special Measures for Supporting the Sustainable Development of Depopulated Areas — Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2022)

On the Regional Future Grant — Cabinet Secretariat Regional Future Strategy Headquarters Secretariat and Cabinet Office Regional Revitalization Promotion Secretariat (April 2026)

Regional Future Grant System Rules — Cabinet Office and others (February 2026)

Development and Operation of Social Welfare Facilities — Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2026)