Why Did Choi Ho-kwon, Yeongdeungpo District Mayor, Praise Kim Seon-soon, Director of Seoul Women's and Family Policy Office, for Creating 'Aisarang Home'?

Seoul's Child-Friendly Housing 'Ai Sarang Home' First Nationwide Supply, Policy Tackling Both 'Housing Issues' and 'Care Burden' for Parents Receives Applause... Choi Ho-kwon, Yeongdeungpo District Mayor, Says "Providing Housing with Care Centers and Hospitals Inside Creates an Environment Ideal for Raising Children, Marking a Revolutionary Birth Promotion Measure"

Kim Seon-sun, Director of Women's and Family Policy Office, Seoul Metropolitan Government

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is receiving applause for preparing a groundbreaking measure to address the low birthrate issue.

Seoul is the first in the nation to supply child-rearing friendly housing called ‘Aisarang Home,’ aiming to tackle two major challenges faced by parents?‘housing problems’ and ‘caregiving burdens.’

This measure is the fifth low birthrate policy following support for infertile couples, pregnant women, large families, and newlyweds. While previous policies focused on target groups, this time the emphasis is on creating ‘spaces’ that consider the life cycle of child-rearing families.

The child-rearing friendly housing ‘Aisarang Home’ is a residential model optimized for parenting. It guarantees stable residence for up to 12 years without worrying about moving during childbearing and rearing, and supplies housing at 35-90% of the surrounding market price depending on income level, reducing the financial burden.

In particular, the same building is equipped with infrastructure such as Seoul-style kids cafes, neighborhood care centers, daycare centers, and hospitals, allowing all child-rearing related needs to be met within one building. Beyond proximity to home, it is an apartment that embraces child-rearing infrastructure, similar to ‘Chopuma’ (an apartment embracing elementary schools).

The housing is planned mainly around medium-sized units (59㎡ and 84㎡ types) preferred by families with children, with premium materials used to minimize noise between floors.

Especially, to provide psychological and environmental stability to child-rearing families, it is considered important to cluster care and childcare facilities. Along with Seoul-style kids cafes, neighborhood care centers, and daycare centers, facilities for health (hospitals, pharmacies), education (academies), culture and leisure (performance halls, restaurants), and living support (restaurants, supermarkets) will be established for use by both residents and local families raising children.

The child-rearing friendly housing ‘Aisarang Home’ will be promoted in three types depending on housing size and location requirements: ▲Complex Cultural Type ▲Regional Hub Type ▲Community Integrated Type. After preparation procedures, construction is planned to start as early as 2025, with phased openings from 2027. The Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) will build and supply the housing.

First, the ‘Complex Cultural Type’ is the largest among the three types, combining over 300 housing units with large-scale child-rearing infrastructure and complex cultural facilities such as museums, libraries, and theaters. The first ‘Complex Cultural Type’ housing will be built on the ‘Dangsan Public Parking Lot’ site, located 200 meters from Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station on subway lines 2 and 5. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026 with occupancy targeted for 2028. It will be a 4-basement to 16-floor building with a total of 380 units, supplied in the two most preferred sizes of 59㎡ and 84㎡.

Second, the ‘Regional Hub Type’ combines over 100 housing units with facilities providing everyday care services. It will serve as a regional hub space used not only by residents but also by nearby community members. The first ‘Regional Hub Type’ will be developed on the site of the ‘Southern Women’s Development Center’ in Siheung-dong, Geumcheon-gu, with construction targeted for 2026.

Third, the ‘Community Integrated Type’ is the smallest among the three types (under 100 units) and can be established in locations that minimize facilities by utilizing existing local resources such as daycare centers or parking lots. The first ‘Community Integrated Type’ will be developed using the Dongdaemun-gu Sunlight Daycare Center site (Yongdu-dong, Dongdaemun-gu), with construction starting in 2025 and completion planned for 2027.

Eligibility for moving into the child-rearing friendly housing Aisarang Home requires being a non-homeowner and meeting income criteria according to ‘public housing entry conditions.’ A certain portion of units will have relaxed income criteria to lower entry barriers. The residence period varies by number of children (6 years for one child under 12, 12 years for two or more children), and higher points will be given for younger children including fetuses and for larger numbers of children.

The city plans to prioritize introducing suitable types of child-rearing friendly housing Aisarang Home when developing national and public land, donated land, and idle sites, and will also secure a certain portion of Aisarang Home units in housing supplied by the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH).

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, “The phenomenon of young people of marriageable age moving out of Seoul after marriage and having children is accelerating. We will actively supply the child-rearing friendly housing Aisarang Home, which makes both caregivers, children, and local residents happy, to create an environment where children can be raised stably in Seoul.”

Choi Ho-gwon, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo District

The mastermind behind the child-rearing friendly housing ‘Aisarang Home’ policy is Kim Seon-soon, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Women and Family Policy Office and a 36th Administrative Examination pass.

Choi Ho-kwon, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, drew attention by highly praising Director Kim for creating Aisarang Home. Recently, Mayor Choi told reporters, “Creating a groundbreaking policy that includes care centers and hospitals inside apartments to solve the social trend of reluctance to give birth is a remarkable achievement.”

It is noteworthy how much the birthrate can increase if the difficulties of securing housing and childcare in Seoul are solved simultaneously.

It is necessary to create more of such child-rearing friendly housing so that young people can marry, have children, and build happy families.