Seoul City is starting the renovation of semi-basement houses vulnerable to various disasters. Through the ‘Autonomous Housing Renovation Project,’ which supports deregulation such as floor area ratio, the city plans to improve the residential environment in densely populated low-rise residential areas and ultimately reduce the number of semi-basement houses.
Seoul City and Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation (SH Corporation) announced on the 3rd that they are recruiting project operators for the Autonomous Housing Renovation Project aimed at renovating semi-basement houses. The city plans to select a total of 100 sites through continuous applications by 2026 and proceed with the renovation.
The Autonomous Housing Renovation Project is a project where two or more landowners renovate single-family, multi-family, or row houses, and must meet the conditions of ▲ up to 18 single-family houses ▲ up to 36 multi-family or row houses ▲ or fewer than 36 combined single-family and multi-family/row houses, with the housing ‘aging rate’ being two-thirds or more.
The application target must include ‘semi-basement houses (with residential use according to the building register)’ within the project site, and the project plan must designate at least 20% of the total floor area or number of households as ‘rental housing’ of national housing size (85㎡ or less) through the Autonomous Housing Renovation Project. ▲ Semi-basement houses with a history of flooding ▲ Semi-basement houses in seven autonomous districts that requested designation as special disaster zones in 2022 ▲ Houses buried two-thirds or more in flood-prone areas ▲ Sites including many semi-basement houses within flood planning parcels will receive additional points during the review process if these conditions are met.
Seoul City explained, "If more than 20% of the total floor area or number of households are public rental housing, incentives up to the legal maximum floor area ratio can be granted. Additionally, applying further deregulations such as landscaping, open space within the site, and daylight and sunlight standards makes the project conditions more favorable compared to new construction on individual parcels, thereby promoting the renovation of semi-basement houses."
SH Corporation will select project sites through the public recruitment, purchase the rental housing built after demolishing old semi-basement houses, and supply them as public rental housing. Furthermore, project operators will be able to reduce concerns about unsold units in the general supply beyond the landowners’ allocated units, which is expected to promote both semi-basement renovation and housing supply.
After on-site investigations and review procedures, SH Corporation plans to decide whether to select the sites for the Autonomous Housing Renovation Project and will separately notify applicants of the application confirmation and review schedule. Notably, from this announcement, the recruitment of project sites, which was previously irregular, will be converted to ‘continuous,’ and it is expected that the project will be promoted more sustainably and efficiently in the future.
Han Byung-yong, Director of Seoul City’s Housing Policy Office, said, “We will support the ‘Autonomous Housing Renovation Project’ in various ways to reduce semi-basement houses vulnerable to flooding and fire, and provide high-quality public rental housing and a safe and pleasant residential environment.”
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