President Lee Han-jun: "50,000 Public Housing Units to Start Construction Without Delay... Apologies for Main Subscription Delay" [2024 National Audit]

"Goal to Start Construction of 60,000 Houses Next Year... 10,000 Houses in the First Half"
Reason for Surge in Defects: "LH's Poor Management and Supervision Issues"

Lee Han-jun, President of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), emphasized that 50,000 public housing units will be started without delay by the end of the year. Currently, the construction start performance is less than 1% of the target.

Lee Han-jun, President of Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), is reporting on business at the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee's audit held on the morning of the 10th. / Photo by Yonhap News

At the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee audit held on the morning of the 10th, Lee responded to Rep. Lee Yeon-hee of the Democratic Party’s criticism that the number of public housing units started by August this year was only 236 units, which is just 0.47% of the plan (50,120 units), saying, "I promise to start construction on 50,000 units without delay by December 31 and report the results."

He added, "LH’s work practices are operated so that projects are completed in the fourth quarter (October to December)," and "Next year, the goal is to start construction on 60,000 units, but to prevent concerns, we plan to start 10,000 units in the first half of next year." He also mentioned that they are changing the system to work evenly by quarter, eliminating the gradual practice of concentrating work at the end of the year.

This year, LH’s public housing permit plan is for 67,962 units, but as of the end of August, the actual performance was only 94 units (0.14%). The number of units started was 236, which is only 0.47% of the plan (50,120 units). Although LH has received project approvals, the number of housing units not yet started construction reached 154,888 units across 397 districts. This includes 89 districts of the 3rd New Town candidates, totaling 39,841 units. Among these, 13 districts with 7,447 units are planned to start construction after 2028 due to "immature conditions for land use and other construction start conditions."

There were also criticisms that the number of defects in LH apartments is increasing. Rep. Jeon Yong-gi of the Democratic Party pointed out that LH apartment defects were about 220,000 cases in 2022, but increased to about 320,000 last year and 404,000 in the first half of this year.

President Lee explained the sharp increase in defects by saying, "The recently completed houses were started three years ago, during which there were many strikes by the Cargo Truckers Solidarity and Construction Unions." He also said, "The Ukraine-Russia war delayed material deliveries, and the influx of foreign unskilled labor surged within three years."

However, when opposition lawmakers criticized the explanation that defects surged due to strikes as inappropriate, he added, "While these results appear during the completion stage after construction started at that time, ultimately, the biggest problem was the management and supervision by LH employees."

Regarding the delay in the main subscription of public sale complexes that had received preliminary subscriptions, he expressed, "I apologize to those who are experiencing difficulties."

Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties pointed out the issue of rising prices due to delays in the main subscription. Rep. Eom Tae-young of the People Power Party said, "The additional burden of sale payments for 13 preliminary subscription complexes where the main subscription has been completed amounts to 98.6 billion won," and added, "Since the sale price at the time of preliminary subscription is an estimate, it can change at the time of the main subscription, but as the main subscription is delayed, the sale price also rises, increasing dissatisfaction."

He continued, "Although preliminary subscriptions have been made, there are a total of 78 complexes with 55,501 units where the main subscription has not been implemented, and only 31 complexes (40%) among them have confirmed the main subscription," adding, "Among these, 25,000 units require about 730 billion won more in sale payments."

Rep. Lee So-young of the Democratic Party also said, "In Incheon Gyeyang A3 district, the estimated sale price at the time of preliminary subscription was about 330 million won, but the final sale price announced last month exceeded 400 million won, increasing by about 65 million won (20%)."

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