Seoul City: "Youth Safe Housing Resident Satisfaction Reaches 93.7%"

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The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on January 27 that last year’s survey of Youth Safe Housing residents showed a satisfaction rate of 93.7%.

This figure represents a 2.2 percentage point increase compared to the previous year.

Looking at the details by category, community satisfaction saw the most significant improvement, rising by 21.4 percentage points from 61.2% in 2024 to 82.6% last year. This is analyzed as a result of substantial enhancements to residents’ daily convenience.

However, satisfaction with housing costs declined by 3.4 percentage points, from 70.9% in 2024 to 67.5% in 2025, indicating an area in need of improvement. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to expand the successes in community and operations while also supplementing the system to reduce the perceived burden of housing costs.

Youth Safe Housing continues to attract strong interest from young people and newlyweds. From 2021 to 2025, the average application competition ratio was 53.7:1 for public rental units and 28:1 for private rental units. Demand for youth-targeted supply was particularly high. In particular, the public rental youth units at Gwangjin-gu Remarkville Gunja recorded the highest competition ratio at 1,006.8:1, demonstrating especially strong demand for locations near subway stations.

However, last year, some project sites saw increased uncertainty regarding rental guarantees due to business downturns, leading to concerns about auctions and potential rental fraud, which in turn heightened anxiety among residents. In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Government introduced a “compensate first, recover later” approach, prioritizing tenant protection in the event of damages and minimizing fiscal burden through subsequent recovery.

Last year, Seoul completed a total of 28,679 Youth Safe Housing units and began construction on 44,777 units. However, as construction costs and interest rates have risen, the profitability of such projects has declined, resulting in a decrease in the number of permits issued. To address this, the city is actively pursuing a comprehensive revision of the “Youth Safe Housing Project Construction and Operation Standards” and working to improve the quality of operations and services. The goal for this year is to further advance policy and achieve a 95% resident satisfaction rate.

Choi Jinseok, Director of the Seoul Housing Policy Division, stated, “Youth Safe Housing is a policy where resident satisfaction continues to be verified in practice,” adding, “This year, we will accelerate support expansion and system improvements based on on-site evaluations.”

Meanwhile, these results are based on last year’s SH Youth Safe Housing resident satisfaction survey. The survey was conducted online among residents of 14 newly completed complexes (a total of 4,409 units) who had moved in more than six months prior. From December 8 to December 15 last year, a total of 1,257 people participated, with a response rate of 28.5%.

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