Gyeonggi-do to Hold 'National Assembly Forum' to Address Semi-basement Housing Issues

Gyeonggi-do's 'Discussion on the Three Laws for Upgrading Semi-basement Housing' Announcement Poster

Gyeonggi Province, together with seven members of the National Assembly, will hold a forum to prepare a reasonable institutional improvement plan for upgrading the housing of residents living in semi-basement units.

On the 5th, Gyeonggi Province announced that on the 12th, it will hold a forum at the National Assembly Library in Yeouido, Seoul, on the theme of "Amendment of the Three Acts for Upgrading Housing for Semi-Basement Residents," with Kim Seong-jung, the First Deputy Governor of Gyeonggi Province, and National Assembly member Yeom Tae-young, among others.

Gyeonggi Province is currently promoting amendments to the three laws aimed at improving the housing conditions of semi-basement residents.

The contents of the three law amendments include: ▲ Encouraging reconstruction of houses with existing semi-basement units by temporarily increasing the floor area ratio equivalent to the existing residential semi-basement area upon demolition and new construction (Building Act); ▲ Temporarily increasing the floor area ratio special exception when redeveloping areas densely populated with semi-basement units, with half of the increased floor area ratio supplied as public rental housing (Special Act on the Maintenance and Improvement of Vacant Houses and Small-scale Housing); ▲ Relaxing the criteria for aged and poor-quality semi-basement houses from the current 20?30 years to 10?30 years (Enforcement Decree of the Act on Maintenance and Improvement of Urban and Residential Environments).

The forum will be chaired by Professor Jin Mi-yoon of Myongji University, and Research Fellow Nam Ji-hyun of the Gyeonggi Research Institute will present on the topic of upgrading housing for semi-basement residents.

Following this, discussants will include Lee Gye-sam, Director of the Urban Housing Office of Gyeonggi Province; Park In-sook, Research Officer at the National Assembly Legislative Research Office; Choi Woo-young, Officer of the Urban Housing Supply Cooperation Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Kwon Hyuk-sam, Head of the Housing Research Team at Korea Land and Housing Corporation; Professor Jang Jun-ho of Anyang University; and Lee Kang-ho, Vice Chairman of the Steering Committee of the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.

Lee Eun-seon, Director of the Architecture Design Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "There are still 78,678 semi-basement houses in Gyeonggi Province, so improvement is urgently needed," and added, "We will do our best to ensure that the amendment of the 'Three Acts for Upgrading Housing for Semi-Basement Residents' is promptly enacted in the 22nd National Assembly."