LH Promotes 'Self-Housing Maintenance and Urban Regeneration' Combined Model in Jungnang-gu, Seoul

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) announced on the 22nd that it plans to promote a new business model combining autonomous housing maintenance and urban regeneration in Jungnang-gu, Seoul.

This project became possible as the ‘LH Participatory Autonomous Housing Maintenance Project,’ jointly promoted by LH and residents of Jungnang-gu, Seoul, was selected as a ‘Recognized Urban Regeneration Project’ by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The project site in Jungnang-gu, Seoul, is an aging residential area consisting of two buildings of row houses and multi-family houses that are over 30 years old since completion. In April, residents of this area proposed a joint project to LH, citing the need to improve the residential environment and ensure safety due to building aging and cracks in retaining walls, which led to the initiation of the autonomous housing maintenance project.

The autonomous housing maintenance project is a maintenance project where two or more homeowners directly construct new houses in aging residential areas.

With the recognized urban regeneration project being promoted together this time, a total project cost of 21.7 billion KRW (5.9 billion KRW supported by national and district funds) will be invested to create a complex building with two basement floors and seven above-ground floors by the end of next year.

Sixty housing units will be constructed in the upper floors of the new building, which LH will use as rental housing for newlyweds and young people. On the lower floors, a village parking lot with 48 spaces (total floor area 2,118㎡) will be created, which Jungnang-gu plans to use as a public parking lot to alleviate parking difficulties.

This project is significant as the first case combining autonomous housing maintenance and urban regeneration. As a joint project implementer of autonomous housing maintenance, LH provides project financing, housing purchase agreements, and resettlement support.

From the project planning stage, LH has discussed public contribution plans for regional regeneration, such as supplying rental housing, together with residents. To ensure that not only the project site but also nearby residents benefit from the maintenance project, LH proposed to Jungnang-gu to participate in the Urban Regeneration New Deal project contest to expand living SOC.

As Jungnang-gu accepted this proposal and suggested an urban regeneration project to install a parking lot at the project site, it was finally selected as a recognized urban regeneration project on the 21st.

With the combination of autonomous housing maintenance and urban regeneration, residents will receive additional national and local government support beyond the existing project budget. Jungnang-gu will improve the parking lot securing rate in the area, which is 21 percentage points lower than the Seoul city average of 132%.

Park Hyun-geun, Director of LH Urban Maintenance Project Office, said, “The autonomous housing maintenance project can be a groundbreaking alternative to quickly supply housing in aging low-rise residential areas,” and added, “We will discover various business models to simultaneously expand housing supply and revitalize the region through this project.”