Seoul City Alleyway Regeneration Project Areas, Half Support for Home Repairs in Any Old House

Designated as 'Jutaek Seongneung Gaeseon Jiwon Guyeok' to qualify for support
Alleyway regeneration project sites to be designated as a matter of course
Up to 50% subsidy support for houses over 20 years old within project sites

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] In the future, old houses located within alleyway regeneration project areas in Seoul will be able to receive home repair subsidies without separately undergoing the designation process as a 'Housing Performance Improvement Support Zone.'

On the 15th, Seoul City announced that it has amended the 'Seoul City Ordinance on Support for Home Repairs in Low-rise Residential Areas' to automatically designate the entire 'Alleyway Regeneration Project Area' as a 'Housing Performance Improvement Support Zone.'

Through the 'Well-maintained House Repair Support Project,' Seoul City supports home repairs for detached houses (multi-family and multiplex houses) and apartment houses (multi-unit and row houses) that are over 20 years old since completion, covering up to 50% of the construction costs. Support is provided only if the area is designated as a 'Housing Performance Support Zone.'

With this ordinance amendment, Seoul City has allowed the omission of the zone designation procedure for 'Alleyway Regeneration Project Areas.' This change addresses concerns that the previous process?where residents had to request the district office, which then applied to the city and passed the Seoul Urban Regeneration Committee review?was cumbersome.

Not only the currently designated 46 locations but also future alleyway regeneration project areas will be automatically designated as 'Housing Performance Improvement Support Zones.' Seoul City explained, "We pursued the ordinance amendment to improve the low application rates for home repair support caused by the cumbersome zone designation procedures."

Additionally, Seoul City will implement a 'small-scale pilot project' involving resident participation from the planning to execution stages of the 'Alleyway Regeneration Project Areas' for the first time. During the initial one-year planning phase, citizens will propose ideas for projects based on alleyways, such as alley greening, creating alley courtyards, and shared parking.

Furthermore, Seoul City plans to monitor and evaluate outcomes such as basic living infrastructure and residential environment improvements to enable alleyway regeneration projects to be selected as urban regeneration (village-level) revitalization areas. Unlike existing urban regeneration projects that regenerate certain areas on a 'surface' (area) basis, the 'Alleyway Regeneration Project' is a small-scale regeneration project targeting a 'line' unit.

Ryu Hoon, Director of Seoul City Urban Regeneration Office, said, "Most alleyway regeneration project areas are densely populated with old houses, where home repair support was essential alongside alleyway regeneration. We expect that omitting this procedure will enable more effective simultaneous regeneration of old houses and alleyways."

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