[Interview with Oh Se-hoon] ③ "If elected, I will first improve the quality of public rental housing"

Expanding Residential Area by 1.5 Times
Implementing 'Non-Discriminatory Social Mix' with Major Finishes at Sale Housing Level

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to increase the residential area of newly built public (rental) housing by 1.5 times and raise the quality of major finishing materials and equipment to the level of sale housing. While Seoul has been driving private reconstruction projects such as rapid integrated planning and Moa Town since last year to expand supply, this year it aims to upgrade the quality of public housing.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in an interview with Asia Economy, "This year, we will overhaul the rental housing issue on a large scale," adding, "We will increase the residential area of newly built rental housing by 1.5 times and improve the quality of major finishing materials and equipment to the level of sale housing." This means removing the perception that public housing is only small-sized and diversifying the floor plans considering the demand.

The city announced in January that it would shift the public housing policy paradigm, which had focused on quantitative supply, to 'housing welfare priority' this year. The intention is to eliminate discriminatory elements against public housing, improve negative perceptions, and upgrade quality.

Mayor Oh also urged during the New Year's work report of the Housing Policy Office this year, "Public housing must also be supplied with high quality," and emphasized, "We must achieve social mix so that no one feels deprived in housing."

The city plans to implement a social mix without discrimination between public housing and sale units within new apartment complexes. To this end, the city formed and is operating the 'Public Housing Preliminary Review Task Force (TF)' last year. A preliminary review checklist covering 21 items, including floor plan distribution, layout, and material usage, was also created.

The priority task of the preliminary review TF is to upgrade the quality of public housing. Mayor Oh emphasized, "Public housing has been required to use only small and medium-sized enterprise products for standard equipment and interior finishing materials due to the lowest bid system regulations, making it difficult to supply high-quality housing," adding, "Public housing should not be a living space that causes shame rather than pride."

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-[Oh Se-hoon Interview] ③ "If elected, I will first raise the quality of public rental housing"