Assemblyman Jo O-seop: "Serious Concentration of Public Rental Support Projects in the Seoul Metropolitan Area"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Subsidies provided for the construction of purchase rental, national rental, permanent rental, and Happy Housing under the 'Housing and Urban Fund Act' are excessively concentrated in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, while resource generation falls short in comparison.

According to Assemblyman Jo O-seop (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Buk-gu Gap) on the 16th, the total subsidies provided to local governments nationwide from 2016 to August this year for national housing construction amounted to 2.8393 trillion KRW. Of this, 2.2787 trillion KRW, accounting for 80.25%, was allocated to Seoul and Gyeonggi.

On the other hand, the resources generated in Seoul and Gyeonggi accounted for only 54% of subscription savings and 60% of national housing bonds, indicating that funds are collected from other regions and invested in Seoul and Gyeonggi.

Regarding subscription savings, a major source of the housing account of the Housing and Urban Fund, from 2016 to August this year, out of 84.0421 trillion KRW, Seoul and Gyeonggi generated 25.9877 trillion KRW and 19.6284 trillion KRW respectively, totaling 45.6161 trillion KRW (54%).

National housing bonds, issued to raise funds necessary for national housing projects, amounted to 72.8698 trillion KRW over five years, with 60% or 44.0148 trillion KRW issued in Seoul and Gyeonggi.

Conversely, an analysis of expenditure details shows that in the past five years, subsidies for purchase rental housing projects supported under Article 9, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 1 of the Housing and Urban Fund Act amounted to 1.2722 trillion KRW, or 89.0% of the total 1.4295 trillion KRW, with Seoul receiving 1.1899 trillion KRW and Gyeonggi 82.3 billion KRW.

National rental housing subsidies totaled 388.6 billion KRW, with Seoul receiving 318.5 billion KRW and Gyeonggi 70.1 billion KRW, accounting for 84.77% of the total 458.4 billion KRW. Seven local governments including Gwangju and Daejeon did not receive any support.

Happy Housing subsidies amounted to 550.6 billion KRW, with Seoul receiving 350 billion KRW and Gyeonggi 200.6 billion KRW, making up 77.37% of the total 711.6 billion KRW.

Assemblyman Jo O-seop stated, “Since the Housing and Urban Fund is established to be used for low-income and economically vulnerable groups, it should be accessible nationwide,” adding, “Metropolitan local governments other than Seoul and Gyeonggi have low fiscal independence, making it difficult even to respond to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s basic demand surveys.”

He continued, “If the current situation persists, there is a risk that the Housing and Urban Fund will continue to serve only Seoul and Gyeonggi,” and emphasized, “To ensure equitable support among regions, support standards by local governments should be established to enable the creation of local housing fund corporations and the formulation of mid- to long-term roadmaps.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.