Oh Se-hoon: "Tax Waste on 'Social Housing'... Considering Legal Action"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon criticized the 'social housing' introduced during former Mayor Park Won-soon's tenure as a waste of tax money and announced legal action.

On the 26th, a video titled "Stirring up trouble with national money and trying to slip away? The naked truth of social housing" was uploaded on Mayor Oh's YouTube channel, 'Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon TV.'

The video pointed out that "20.149 billion won of Seoul citizens' hard-earned tax money was wasted under the name of social housing," and criticized that social housing failed to uphold its two main purposes: 'low rent' and 'housing security.'

Social housing is supposed to set rent at about 80% of the surrounding market rate and guarantee residence for up to 10 years, but according to Seoul City's inspection, about 47% of social housing violated the rent standards.

Additionally, some operators applied preferential treatment to affiliated cooperative members in tenant recruitment conditions, depriving ordinary citizens of the opportunity to move in, and mandated monthly fees instead of rent and maintenance fees, effectively privatizing social housing, the video criticized.

Social housing was introduced in 2015 as a model where private operators such as social cooperatives or non-profit organizations supply and operate housing with support from Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) for land and financial costs.

The video raised the issue, "Why does SH outsource to the private sector instead of directly managing the projects? The original purpose has not been achieved, and the damage is borne by Seoul citizens. This situation would not have occurred if SH had directly supplied and operated rental housing, which is its primary duty."

The video ended with a phrase over a background photo of Mayor Oh stating, "Review the social housing projects and consider legal action against the former SH president and related officials who pushed the projects recklessly."

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