Seoul City to Develop 'Seoul-Style High-Quality Rental Housing' with Larger Floor Area and Upgraded Interior Materials (Comprehensive)

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is giving an explanation about the 'Seoul-style High-Quality Rental Housing' at the gymnasium of Junghyun Elementary School in Nowon-gu, Seoul, on the 18th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Mayor Oh Se-hoon Announces 'Three Major Innovation Plans for Seoul Rental Housing'

30% Expansion of Medium-Sized Units... Application of High-Quality Interior Materials

The First Seoul-Style High-Quality Rental Housing is Hagye 5 Complex

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Seoul City will expand rental housing sizes to more than 1.5 times the current standard and apply high-quality products for interior materials such as flooring, wallpaper, and lighting. Thirty percent of newly supplied rental housing units will be medium-sized or larger.

On the 18th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced three major innovation plans for realizing 'Seoul-style high-quality rental housing' at Hagye 5 Complex in Nowon-gu, emphasizing transforming rental housing from a source of shame to a space of pride. The three major innovation plans for Seoul rental housing mark a paradigm shift from a supplier-centered policy focused on quantitative supply over the past 30 years, aiming to eliminate the negative image of rental housing and make it a desirable place for everyone to live.

The three major innovation plans for Seoul rental housing are ▲ 'Quality Improvement' for comfortable and safe living spaces ▲ 'Complete Social Mix' to fundamentally block discrimination and exclusion ▲ 'Step-by-step Redevelopment of Aging Complexes' over 30 years old.

First, the 'Seoul-style residential area standard' will be introduced, significantly expanding the size standard of rental housing, which has been mainly small units, by more than 1.5 times, increasing the proportion of preferred medium-sized units from 8% to 30%. The city formed a task force (TF) last October to prepare plans for expanding medium-sized unit supply. Over the next five years, 30% of the 120,000 new rental housing units to be supplied through construction and acquisition will be units of 60㎡ or larger, suitable for families of three to four members.

Interiors reflecting the latest trends such as island kitchens, no-molding finishes, and system air conditioners like private apartments will be applied, and high-quality materials will be used for flooring, wallpaper, and lighting. Community facilities never seen in existing rental housing, such as fitness centers and pet parks, will be introduced, along with the cutting-edge 'Smart One-Pass System' that allows contactless access from the complex entrance to the front door.

Existing rental housing will see dramatically shortened replacement cycles for wallpaper, flooring, sinks, and other facilities, and new insulation and ventilation systems will be installed to improve living conditions. Replacement cycles will be shortened as follows: window frames and doors from 30 years to 20 years, sinks from 15 years to 10 years, and wallpaper and flooring from 10 years to 6 years.

To realize a true social mix without discrimination between rental and sale housing, the city will fully implement a public lottery system for building and unit numbers, and preemptively eliminate discriminatory factors such as placing rental housing in separate buildings or restricting access to community facilities. Additionally, the policy will be improved to allow any resident wishing to move within the housing complex to do so, removing previous restrictions that only allowed limited 'residential mobility' for some rental residents.

The city will redevelop Hagye 5 Complex as the first pilot model reflecting the rental housing innovation plans. Hagye 5 Complex, the first permanent rental housing in Korea completed over 33 years ago, is currently undergoing redevelopment. The project will officially begin this year and by 2030, it will be reborn as a high-quality rental housing complex with a total of 1,510 units. Starting with Hagye 5 Complex, the city plans to progressively redevelop 24 rental housing complexes completed over 30 years ago between 2019 and 2026.

Furthermore, even if not exceeding 30 years since completion, remodeling will be pursued for 75,000 aging housing units between 15 and 30 years old, in consultation with sale and rental households.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon said, "It is time to move away from the past approach of simply increasing quantity, improve the quality of rental housing, and remove the shadows of discrimination and prejudice that have long been cast over rental housing, opening a new era where anyone wants to live, envies, and takes pride in rental housing." He added, "We will innovate rental housing not only as a means to solve housing problems for low-income vulnerable groups but also as housing that enhances the quality of life for Seoul citizens and the dignity of the city of Seoul."

At the site, concerns were raised about whether improving housing quality would lead to rent increases. In response, Mayor Oh explained, "We are currently in the process of changing the public rental system," and added, "We will switch to a customized rent system linked to residents' income rather than unit size to offset the disadvantages of rent increases."

Regarding questions about whether increasing unit sizes would reduce the number of units supplied, Mayor Oh emphasized, "Rental housing complexes like Hagye 5, built in the past, did not use space efficiently," and stated, "With measures such as zoning changes and increasing floor area ratios, Seoul City intends to more than double the number of units compared to existing ones."

Mayor Oh also said, "According to the Support for Market Expansion Act, rental housing must use products from small and medium-sized enterprises," and expressed hopeful plans, saying, "We hope to create a virtuous cycle where SMEs produce high-quality products and Seoul City boldly adopts and uses these brands."

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