Gangbuk-gu's 'Villa Management Office' Project Becomes Benchmark for Other Local Governments

Villa Management Office Project Gains Attention as an Innovative Policy
Gangbuk-gu's Model Attracts Benchmarking from Other Local Governments

The 'Villa Management Office' project, first introduced nationwide by Gangbuk-gu in Seoul (headed by Mayor Lee Soonhee), has established itself as a leading innovative policy for improving the residential environment of small-scale multi-family housing. As a result, other local governments are increasingly benchmarking this initiative.

At the 2023 Villa Management Office Opening Ceremony, Lee Sunhee, Mayor of Gangbuk District, is delivering a greeting to the residents. Provided by Gangbuk District.

This project, first implemented in 2023 by Gangbuk-gu, is a policy that addresses the management blind spots of small-scale multi-family housing complexes (villa villages), which unlike apartments, lack a management entity. The district directly hires dedicated managers to operate the project. These managers regularly patrol their assigned areas, providing resident-focused services such as cleaning, facility inspections, safety patrols, and parking management, thereby greatly contributing to residential convenience and the restoration of community spirit.

On July 22, members of the 'Multi-family Housing Policy Research Group' of the Seongbuk-gu Council visited Gangbuk-gu and the Villa Management Office in Beon 1-dong to directly observe everything from project planning and operational status to resident satisfaction and on-site cases. The site visit was attended by Lee Soonhee, Mayor of Gangbuk-gu, Lim Taekeun, Chairman of the Seongbuk-gu Council, Kyung Suhyun (head of the Multi-family Housing Policy Research Group), as well as over 20 council members and secretariat officials from Seongbuk-gu.

The delegation listened to explanations at Gangbuk-gu Office regarding the project’s planning intent, operational system, and resident satisfaction, and then toured the Beon 1-dong site to hear activity cases directly from the field manager. The delegation evaluated this policy as an effective model for resolving management blind spots in small-scale multi-family housing and stated that it would serve as a reference for establishing Seongbuk-gu’s own multi-family housing policies.

Currently, Gangbuk-gu operates Villa Management Offices in a total of seven districts and plans to expand the project to all areas except apartment-concentrated regions by next year. Last year, this project was recognized as an outstanding policy, winning the Grand Prize at the National Manifesto Competition for Local Government Heads and the Policy Grand Prize at the Chamjoheun Local Autonomy Policy Conference. Building on these achievements, several local governments, including the Seoul Moa Center (Village Management Office), Dobong-gu, and Dongjak-gu, are benchmarking this policy and pursuing similar projects.

Lee Soonhee, Mayor of Gangbuk-gu, stated, "This policy, which was initiated to address the management gap in small-scale multi-family housing, has now become a model policy attracting attention from many local governments. I hope this visit will provide practical assistance to Seongbuk-gu’s multi-family housing policies and serve as an opportunity to broaden the scope of policy cooperation among local governments."

The district plans to continue playing a leading role in improving residential environments through ongoing policy exchanges and cooperation, establishing a public management system tailored to small-scale multi-family housing, and fostering collaboration among local governments.