Public housing units to get a make-over

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon listens to the proposed upgrades for the Hagye Apartment Complex 5 in Nowon District, northern Seoul, on Monday. [YONHAP]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on Monday announced measures to improve the city’s low-income rental apartments in an attempt to eliminate prejudice and discrimination.

“Public housing has been recognized as poor housing that make residents feel unable to be proud of,” Oh said in a press briefing on Monday. “Instead of renaming them, we decided to [make them a unique type of] public housing [...] and make them high-quality living spaces.”

In the plan, 30 percent of 120,000 new public housing units to be supplied over the next five years will be 60 square meters or larger, which is the preferred apartment size, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Ninety-two percent of all public housing units in the city are smaller than 60 square meters, and of them, 58.1 percent are smaller than 40 square meters. This is about twice as much as in Japan (23.7 percent) and Britain (26.5 percent).

Like private apartments, Seoul's public housing will have up-to-date interiors, with island-style kitchens and split air conditioners, and quality interior materials.

The city will create community facilities with fitness centers and pet parks near public housing.

In some mixed-housing complexes, public housing was situated in different buildings or located in relatively poor locations such as by roadsides or in north-facing buildings.

In a bid to mix the residents without inciting discrimination, the city will adopt a new housing lottery system where every household, regardless of their socio-economic status, draws a lot at the same time.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it will apply these measures to 33,083 units that were constructed over 30 years ago. The first target site is the Hagye Apartment Complex 5 in Nowon District, northern Seoul, the first permanent public housing complex in Korea. It is set to be redeveloped by 2030.

"It is time to begin a new era of public housing that everyone wants to live in, everyone envies and everyone can boast of by removing the shadow of discrimination and prejudice that has drifted heavily on public housing,” Oh said. “Beyond solving the housing problem of low-income households, we will transform public housing so that they can enhance the dignity of the city of Seoul.”

BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]