Gangbuk-gu Opens Nation's First Villa Management Office... Residents' Enthusiastic Response 'Hot'

Beon 1-dong Pilot Operation ‘Success’… “Clean Alleys, Pleasant Streets, Transformed into a Livable Neighborhood”

District Mayor Lee Soon-hee: “Will Expand to All Districts… Hope for the Spread of Excellent Autonomous District Policies”

“I decided not to move... because the trash disappeared and the streets became clean!”

Gangbuk-gu (District Mayor Lee Soon-hee) has attracted attention by operating the nation’s first-ever ‘Villa Management Office’ among autonomous districts to manage aging villas. After a two-month pilot operation, the district held an opening ceremony for the Villa Management Office at Saetgang Children's Park on the 19th.

The opening ceremony included a greeting from Mayor Lee Soon-hee, presentation of the Villa Management Office operation results, introduction of the managers in charge, office opening ceremony, and visits around the managed villas. About 70 people, including district council members and residents, attended.

The Villa Management Office is a project directly operated by the district to support cleaning, patrolling, parking, and management of shared facilities in aging villas to improve residents’ quality of life.

This was a key pledge of Mayor Lee Soon-hee, and the district officially launched the initiative in August last year, early in the 8th term of the civilian government.

At the opening ceremony, Mayor Lee said, “Gangbuk-gu has a high distribution of villas due to height restrictions, and 48% of them are aging villas over 20 years old. Due to lack of management, parking conflicts are frequent and the surrounding area is often neglected, leading to slum-like conditions. We devised and promoted the Villa Management Office as a solution.”

In reality, many villas lack systematic management due to residents’ indifference and the burden of maintenance fees. Illegal dumping, smoking, and parking issues often lead to conflicts among neighbors.

Accordingly, the district revised the ‘Apartment Management Ordinance’ at the end of last year and conducted a one-month survey of inconveniences among apartment residents to set the direction for activities.

The pilot area was selected as the area around Beon 1-dong 458?463, 472. The district comprehensively considered housing density, number of households, building aging, and difficulty of redevelopment, and currently 70% of the villas in this area are participating.

The district appointed three managers and decided to spend a total of 78 million KRW on their wages (applying living wage) and office installation costs, using the budget for apartment support and senior job programs, fully funded by the district.

First, in February this year, managers (aged 55 and over) were recruited through open competition, and full-scale operation began in March. The managers work in two shifts on weekdays and one person is on duty on weekends, covering 68 women’s complexes and 694 households.

They clean the villa surroundings, side roads, and alleys four times a day, focusing on managing recycling bins and illegal dumping sites by complex.

For complexes without recycling bins, they directly manage waste disposal sites and clean residual trash.

Additionally, they clean cigarette butts and trash in parks, which are places where youth often stray, inspect and maintain shared facilities, and patrol for residents’ safety.

As a result, the living environment of the managed villas has greatly improved, and residents’ responses have been enthusiastic.

One resident representative said, “Before, trash was everywhere, it was indescribable. Not only cigarette butts but also food waste was dumped, and even with CCTV installed, we couldn’t catch the culprits. Since the managers started working, the streets and alleys have become noticeably cleaner, and habitual illegal dumping spots have disappeared.”

Another resident said, “Due to trash and cigarette butt problems, I often fought with neighbors and was thinking of moving to another villa. But since the managers started working, the villa surroundings, alleys, and streets have become clean, so I gave up the idea of moving.”

The resident representatives of the villas expressed high satisfaction with the operation of the Villa Management Office due to the cleaner environment and management of waste disposal sites.

Manager Shim Sang-soo (58) said, “I gain strength from the clean alleys and the bright greetings and expressions of the residents. At first, when cleaning, I used about two 5-liter trash bags a day, but now I don’t even fill one. As the villa surroundings and alleys have become cleaner, the amount of illegal trash has significantly decreased.”

Seeing the cleaner alleys and streets, residents have also stopped carelessly dumping trash.

Mayor Lee Soon-hee said, “When I walk through Beon 1-dong on my way to work, the streets are noticeably cleaner. Many residents even come to thank me first. We plan to expand the operation to all neighborhoods in the future,” adding, “Through the successful operation of the Villa Management Office, I hope it will spread not only throughout Seoul but also to autonomous districts nationwide.”

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