Seoul to Offer One-Stop Support for Public Housing and Welfare

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is establishing a "one-stop housing support system" that connects public housing supply with housing welfare services. The plan aims to restore the housing ladder by actively identifying vulnerable groups, such as residents of semi-basement homes and jjokbang-style boarding houses, and linking them through consultation, relocation, public rental housing occupancy, and follow-up management.

The city said on the 9th that the Housing Stability City Subcommittee of the "G3 Seoul Plan Planning Committee" visited the Central Housing Welfare Center in Yongsan-gu on the 8th to review on-site operation cases and discuss ways to concretize the housing welfare pledges of the ninth popularly elected administration.

This site visit was the first field activity following the inaugural G3 Seoul Plan meeting held on the 6th, where "strengthening customized housing welfare by life stage" and "expanding affordable senior housing" were presented as key tasks.

The city decided to place the connection between supply and welfare at the core of its housing welfare policy and to concretize implementation measures. When vulnerable groups are identified through the Central Housing Welfare Center and the housing security comprehensive centers in 25 autonomous districts, the city plans to build a feedback system that connects them to the supply of construction-type, purchase-type, and lease-type public rental housing. Through this, the city aims to enhance the effectiveness of its policy to supply 130,000 public housing units and expand long-term jeonse housing (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) by 69,000 units by 2031.

For semi-basement and jjokbang residents who fail to receive support due to a lack of information, the city decided to operate "outreach housing consultation offices" more than 100 times a year and to establish a follow-up support system that manages residents through their settlement after relocation. The city also plans to expand home care, clean care, and other housing management services for low-income single-person households and the elderly, and to strengthen training for housing management coordinators to improve service quality.

At the site, participants discussed ways to more actively identify vulnerable groups by linking community service centers, the Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation (SH), housing consultation offices, and youth support centers; building a one-stop support system spanning from consultation to follow-up management; and expanding private funding.

The Central Housing Welfare Center is the institution that oversees and supports the housing security comprehensive centers in Seoul's 25 autonomous districts. Over the past five years, the annual average number of consultations was about 190,000, more than triple the previous level, while housing upgrade support, which assists relocation to rental housing, increased more than 11-fold, indicating that on-site demand is rapidly expanding.

Lee Chang-moo, Seoul's chief architect and chairman of the G3 Seoul Plan Housing Stability City Subcommittee, stressed, "The answer to housing stability lies in the field," adding, "By reflecting on-site opinions, we will prepare housing stability policies that can be felt by citizens without homes and vulnerable groups."