Weekend On-site Counseling Centers for Youth Protection
32 Households Receive Support to Prevent Tenant Damages
On the 24th, Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon visited the Youth Safe Housing Resident Protection Weekend On-site Counseling Center. The purpose of his visit was to inspect the operation of the counseling center established to support residents who are feeling anxious due to the ongoing auction proceedings involving Youth Safe Housing.
On the morning of the 24th, Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon visited the "Youth Safe Housing Resident Protection Weekend On-site Counseling Center" set up at Jamsil Central Park to inspect the recent incidents such as the forced auction of Youth Safe Housing, and to check the operation status of the counseling center. Provided by Seoul City
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is currently operating "Weekend On-site Counseling Centers" from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Jamsil Central Park (Jamsil-dong 187-10) and Sadang COVE to prevent damages to young residents of Youth Safe Housing. During the operation of the weekend counseling centers, on the 23rd, 20 out of 134 households in Jamsil and 12 out of 85 households in Sadang received counseling.
At the counseling centers, experts such as the head of the SH Youth Housing Safety Center, auction specialists, and related attorneys provide tailored support, including guidance on damage reporting procedures, legal counseling, and on-site responses to help secure deposits. Weekend counseling is also being offered.
During his visit, Mayor Oh identified the specific concerns of young tenants, including issues related to deposits, refund procedures, and timing, which are causing the most anxiety. He instructed that systematic counseling should be provided to prevent further damages to tenants and to ensure they feel sufficiently reassured. He also emphasized that, considering many young people work during the week, sufficient counseling must be available on weekends.
Mayor Oh reiterated, "While the Seoul Metropolitan Government is taking the lead in seeking solutions, we must also ensure that tenants, whose circumstances such as priority status vary, can feel reassured through tailored counseling that addresses their individual situations."
Recently, some Youth Safe Housing units supplied by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and SH have been put up for auction or seized. In the case of the Jamsil Central Park Youth Safe Housing, the project developer failed to pay the construction costs to the contractor, resulting in the property being auctioned. Since the building was not covered by a deposit insurance policy, 134 tenant households are now at risk of losing deposits totaling 23.8 billion KRW. Similarly, at the "COVE" Youth Safe Jeonse Housing in Sadang-dong, Dongjak-gu, deposit insurance enrollment has been delayed for nearly a year, and due to the private operator's debt issues, about 50 households have been subject to provisional seizure.
On August 20, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it would prioritize the payment of deposits to priority tenants of Youth Safe Housing who have not yet recovered their deposits, through financial institutions and law firms. The city also decided to participate in the auction and exercise its preferential right to recover the deposits. For subordinate tenants whose deposit recovery is uncertain, public housing operators such as SH and LH will acquire the distressed properties at auction and use the auction surplus to support the victims, in accordance with the Special Act on the Support for Victims of Jeonse Fraud. Furthermore, if a project site scheduled to recruit new tenants fails to enroll in deposit insurance by September, the city will revoke the landlord's business registration and reclaim benefits such as floor area ratio incentives and loan support.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government stated, "We are preparing support measures tailored to individual conditions, such as priority and subordinate status, to resolve the deposit issues in Youth Safe Housing," and added, "The on-site counseling center for Youth Safe Housing tenants will continue to operate next weekend as well, taking into account the busy schedules of young people."
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