[2020 National Audit] Seoul City, Public Rental Housing with 100 Million Won 'Maserati'... Repeated Exceeding of Eligibility Criteria

Over 1,900 Cases Detected for Income and Vehicle Value Exceedance
82% of Ineligible Redevelopment Rental Housing Residents Without Income Criteria Own Homes

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Cases of residents living in Seoul public rental housing despite exceeding eligibility criteria in real estate, income, and vehicle value have been repeatedly reported, raising calls for thorough inspections.

According to Cho Oh-seop, a member of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, over the past five years, there have been approximately 1,900 cases of ineligible residency in Seoul public rental housing due to income excess, illegal subletting, and other reasons. When broken down by reason, the ineligible residencies were found to be 51 cases of illegal subletting, 118 cases of real estate excess, 551 cases of income excess, 68 cases of vehicle excess, and 1,108 cases of home ownership, totaling 1,896 cases. Most of these ineligible residencies were detected at the time of lease renewal after initially meeting eligibility criteria at the time of first move-in.

In particular, among the ineligible residencies, home ownership accounted for the largest proportion, with 437 cases (39.4% of the total 1,108) occurring in redevelopment rental housing. This represents 82% of all ineligible residencies in redevelopment rental housing.

The eligibility criteria for redevelopment rental housing require that applicants be residents of the relevant maintenance area or owners of land subject to sale, and be non-homeowner household heads who qualify as first or second priority for special supply households. Representative Cho interpreted that because income criteria do not apply to special supply households in redevelopment rental housing, their income tends to be relatively higher compared to other public rental housing where income criteria are enforced, resulting in a higher number of ineligible residencies due to home ownership.

Vehicle ownership exceeding eligibility criteria in Seoul public rental housing was also pointed out as an ongoing issue. Among ineligible residencies in Seoul, 68 cases involved exceeding vehicle criteria. One tenant living in Happy Housing owned a Maserati Ghibli valued at 99.08 million KRW, and another tenant in National Rental Housing owned a Mercedes-Benz E300 valued at 53.52 million KRW but was evicted due to exceeding the criteria. These vehicles exceed the vehicle value limit of 24.68 million KRW for National Rental and Happy Housing by two to four times.

Representative Cho stated, "Public rental housing is provided at monthly rents of around 100,000 to 300,000 KRW to vulnerable groups with average monthly incomes of 100%, 70%, or 50% of urban worker households, depending on the type." He added, "The fact that owners of luxury vehicles or homes are residing in public rental housing can lead to disputes over fairness, so thorough inspections of ineligible residents are necessary."

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