Jung Won-oh Vows to Prioritize Youth Housing by Cutting Wasteful Budgets Like Mayor's Garden and Han River Bus

Mobilizing Full Administrative Capacity by 2027
Accelerated Construction and Supply of 87,000 Units
Significant Expansion of Monthly Rent Support for Youth (200,000 Won Per Month)
50,000 Units of Youth Dormitories and Co-living Student Housing to Be Supplied

Jung Won-oh, the Democratic Party candidate for Seoul Mayor, emphasized on the 18th, "The most important issue is youth housing," adding, "I will reduce wasteful budget items such as the Mayor's Garden and the Han River Bus, and use those funds for the benefit of young people."

Jung Wonoh, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul Mayor, held a press conference in front of Seoul City Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 18th, announcing housing-related pledges. Photo by Yonhap News

That afternoon in front of Seoul City Hall, Candidate Jung declared that the recent surge in Seoul's rental and lease prices was "a housing administration failure caused by Candidate Oh Se-hoon," and announced his "Three Key Housing Stability Measures for Youth and Newlyweds."

Jung plans to expand annual youth monthly rent support by 2.5 times compared to the current scale, aiming to ease the immediate rent burden. By relaxing eligibility criteria, the number of beneficiaries will be dramatically increased from the current 20,000 to 50,000 per year, with plans to provide 200,000 people a monthly subsidy of 200,000 won for one year during his term.

Additionally, he pledges to supply 10,000 practical homes for sale and 30,000 public rental housing units for newlyweds. The practical homes for sale will utilize part of the housing supplied in urban areas through the reconstruction of old public rental complexes (permanent rental housing sites) and in line with the 9·7 measures, totaling 10,000 units. These will include share accumulation, profit-sharing, and land lease types, all of which significantly reduce the initial purchase price. In the share accumulation model, buyers cover only 10 to 25 percent initially and acquire the remaining share in installments over 20 to 30 years after moving in.

To guarantee youth housing, he also plans to provide a total of 50,000 units, including 7,000 dormitory rooms, 20,000 co-living student housing units, and 23,000 public rental homes.

The co-living student housing program, one of Jung’s successful policies during his time as Seongdong-gu mayor, is a youth rental public housing model in which the Seoul Metropolitan Government supports home repairs, SH Corporation provides low-interest deposits at around 1 percent, and rent burdens are shared by schools and district offices. Jung commented, "It was a policy that satisfied studio owners, young people, and universities in Seongdong-gu," and added, "We plan to expand this to the entire city of Seoul in the future."

At the same time, he promised to normalize housing administration by planning and monitoring housing supply targets based on construction commencement, and to stabilize the rental market by accelerating rapid housing supply through the 'Steady Development' initiative by 2027. This includes early commencement of construction for 60,000 redevelopment units, 7,000 rebuilt permanent rental apartments, and expedited supply of 20,000 purchase-type rental homes.

Jung stated, "I will restore Seoul's housing market, which has faltered under Oh Se-hoon's administration, by working with the capable Lee Jaemyung government and demonstrating my administrative competence through tangible results."

Meanwhile, before the press conference, Candidate Jung met with five members of the youth generation—including young people and newlyweds actually residing in Seoul—at Cheonggye Plaza near Seoul City Hall, where he listened to their real housing situations and discussed possible improvements.

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