The Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) reignites the 'public redevelopment' project that has been idle for over four years. The public redevelopment project is a development initiative led by the public to supply dwellings in underdeveloped areas within urban centers. However, due to its public leadership, the initiative has faced reduced momentum from opposition among residents due to low revenue.
According to LH and the maintenance industry on the 5th, LH plans to form a public redevelopment preparation committee in the Sungin-dong 1169 area and hold an information session on the 8th to introduce the redevelopment plan and operational strategies.
LH said, 'We aim to create a redevelopment project led by residents through active participation from the local community before the designation of the maintenance area for the public redevelopment project scheduled in the first half of next year,' adding, 'We will hold an information session to establish the public redevelopment preparation committee and guide future operational plans.'
The public redevelopment project was introduced in 2020 during the Moon Jae-in administration amid a worsening housing supply crisis to activate housing supply within urban areas. Public entities such as LH are participating in long-stagnant redevelopment projects due to lack of feasibility and conflicts among residents to improve residential conditions and promote housing supply.
The government stated it would reduce the timeline for maintenance projects from the existing 10 years to half that period at 5 years upon introducing public redevelopment. To achieve this, various public supports will be provided, including relaxation of urban regulations, improvements in project feasibility, loans for project costs, and simplification of licensing procedures in areas promoting public redevelopment. In return, residents must supply half of the new dwellings built, excluding the cooperative members' allocations, as public rentals or publicly supported private rentals.
The Sungin-dong 1169 area was selected as a candidate site for public redevelopment by the Ministry of Land and the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2021. However, since its selection as a candidate site over four years ago, there has been no progress. At that time, the government announced plans to develop the land of 14,157 square meters (owned by 124 individuals) in the Sungin-dong 1169 area to supply 410 housing units.
The Sungin-dong 1169 area faces significant opposition from residents, making development difficult. Due to strong opposition from residents, the Jongno District Office even proceeded to apply for the removal of the candidate site status for public redevelopment. Because public redevelopment is led by the public, the high ratio of contributed acceptance and rental housing obligations means that even with the initiative, the residents' revenue is bound to be low. For this reason, in most areas, there is a higher preference for private redevelopment over public redevelopment.
An LH official noted, 'In September last year, the backlash against the project was so strong that the Jongno District Office requested the Seoul City side to cancel the project.' He stated, 'After the cancellation request, through active consultation and persuasion with nearby residents and Jongno District, the project cancellation was put on hold in May of this year.'
After the decision to suspend the cancellation of public redevelopment was made, LH plans to form a preparation committee and re-initiate redevelopment that reflects the opinions of residents. However, there are also opinions indicating that unless the feasibility of public redevelopment significantly improves, resuming public redevelopment will be difficult.
An LH official said, 'We will work hard for swift project advancement through active consultations with related organizations and residents in the future.'