Supplying 190,000 Public Housing Units This Year... LH Faces Severe Manpower Shortage

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As the government pushes to expand the supply of public housing, concerns are mounting over the potential work overload at Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH). While it is clear that LH's role is expanding, more than 800 employees have left over the past four years, raising concerns that excessive workloads could become a serious issue.

According to the Alio electronic disclosure system on September 3, the number of LH employees stood at 9,017 as of the second quarter of this year, down by a total of 811 over the past four years. The number of employees, which reached 9,683 in 2020 during the Moon Jae-in administration, was sharply reduced in 2021 following the "Third New Town Land Speculation Scandal." In response to this incident, the government implemented reform measures and began cutting staff. In 2023, the number of employees fell again due to staff departures related to the apartment rebar omission incident. In July, LH barely managed to maintain the 9,000-employee mark (as of the second quarter of this year) by adding 45 positions in response to an ad hoc increase request for public institutions.

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Meanwhile, the workload has increased significantly. LH has committed to supplying over 100,000 newly built purchase-lease units in the Seoul metropolitan area over a two-year period starting last year. The target for this year is approximately 50,000 units. Last year, LH purchased 38,531 units, meaning it must acquire about 12,000 more units this year. The newly built purchase agreement system involves LH promising in advance to purchase homes that private developers plan to build, then acquiring them after completion.

As the targets have increased, the number of applications has surged. Last year, a total of 245,000 units applied for purchase over the entire year, but this year, about 190,000 applications were submitted in just the first half. Of these, the number of units that actually signed agreements was about 17,290.

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LH is responsible for screening the massive volume of applications and finalizing agreements for the actual number of units to be purchased. Nationwide, about 270 employees are dedicated to this work. Each employee is responsible for conducting on-site inspections, price evaluations, and selecting candidate units for approximately 700 homes. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shortened the agreement signing period from the original seven months to about two months in order to speed up the supply of newly built purchase-lease units, further intensifying the workload.

The scale of project funds managed per person is also steadily increasing. Typically, as the amount of project funds handled by each individual grows, so does the workload and mental burden. In the first half of this year, the average project fund size per employee was about 3.375 billion won, a 63% increase from 2.075 billion won the previous year. This is nearly three times the average project fund per person at other social overhead capital (SOC) public institutions, which stands at 1.1 billion won.

This year, LH must also begin construction on 60,000 public housing units and obtain approval for projects totaling 100,000 public housing units. Adding together the 50,000 newly built purchase-lease units, 36,000 jeonse lease units, and the 100,000 units requiring project approval, the total amount of public housing LH is expected to supply this year reaches about 190,000 units. In addition, LH faces a host of other tasks, including starting land development projects for the Third New Towns worth 3.2 trillion won and supporting victims of jeonse fraud.

Experts point out that a significant increase in staffing is urgently needed to align with the government’s policy focus on public-led housing supply. Seo Jinhyung, a professor of real estate law at Kwangwoon University, emphasized, "As the public role entrusted to LH continues to grow, it is essential to secure additional personnel accordingly," adding, "If the structure of projects changes in line with the government's plan to expand public housing supply, it is necessary to anticipate and increase staffing to an appropriate level."

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