Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul, said during a meeting with citizens, "I will quickly turn the redevelopment and reconstruction supply clock to provide more homes more quickly, focusing on three key words: speed, public responsibility, and quality of life improvement."
According to the city of Seoul on the 13th, Mayor Oh spoke the previous afternoon at the 'Citizen Maintenance Project Academy' held at Yongsan Dream Town.
This special lecture was organized as part of Mayor Oh's efforts to revitalize the supply of dwellings that began in July by conveying strategies and visions for maintenance projects to citizens.
At the event, Mayor Oh introduced the city's redevelopment and reconstruction policy direction and promotion strategy under the theme 'Building Seoul together, living together in the future.'
Mayor Oh described redevelopment and reconstruction as "a city redesign that changes the quality of life for citizens beyond demolishing old homes and constructing new apartments," and noted, "It is an important process where the public and private sectors work together to create the future of housing in Seoul."
He continued, "The public will take responsibility by ensuring fairness and managing conflicts."
Mayor Oh stated that "the most certain way to stabilize the housing market is to supply more dwellings more quickly," adding, "The city of Seoul will push forward innovative housing supply policies to accelerate the supply clock for dwellings."
He expressed that "for over the past decade, the redevelopment and reconstruction projects in Seoul have virtually come to a halt," and added, "Moreover, 393 areas designated as maintenance zones have been released, putting a 'red light' on housing supply in Seoul."
To restart the halted supply clock, Mayor Oh introduced the policies that have been promoted. The city of Seoul has implemented measures to normalize maintenance projects since 2021, laying the groundwork for project promotion. Starting with rapid integrated planning in 2021, followed by the introduction of Moa Town and Moa Dwellings in 2022, the time required for designation of maintenance zones has been shortened from an average of 5 years to 2.5 years by abolishing the residential maintenance index system that hindered redevelopment.
Through this, the average annual designation of maintenance zones in Seoul, which had been 12 areas over the past decade, has tripled to an average of 36 areas in the last four years. A total of 145 maintenance zones encompassing approximately 200,000 dwelling units have been confirmed. The volume of dwelling supply is expected to increase more than threefold compared to before.
To revive the stagnant momentum of maintenance projects, the city improved business conditions, including the abolition of the 35-story height limit and the expansion of incentives for floor area ratios, such as the recognition of business feasibility coefficients and prevailing floor area ratios.
Mayor Oh stated, "This year, we are maximizing the speed of housing supply by focusing on deregulation and innovation, thereby accelerating the timing for citizens to move into new dwellings."
Key examples of deregulation for the supply of dwellings in Seoul include easing public contributions in height-regulated areas, expanding integrated reviews to include fire and disaster sectors, decisions to expand green space (three-dimensional parks), and relaxing the approval rates for the direct establishment of cooperatives.
The Citizen Maintenance Project Academy is an event designed to clearly explain the concepts and procedures of maintenance projects to stakeholders like cooperative members and citizens, as well as to communicate the city of Seoul's vision and efforts for housing policy and achievements in expanding dwelling supply. It is scheduled to be held once or twice a week until November, touring district offices.
Residents from the Seo-kyey-dong area in Yongsan, located behind Seoul Station, attended the event. The Seo-kyey-dong area is characterized by steep slopes with many alleyways and vacant houses. The residential environment has not improved even with past urban regeneration projects, leading to prolonged development delays. Recently, it has been selected as a target area for rapid integrated planning and Moa Town development.