It was revealed that residents of public rental housing of the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) passed the rental housing screening by splitting equity even while owning high-priced vehicles. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and LH plan to push institutional improvements to block tricks that allow people to live in public rental housing while driving high-priced cars.
Kim Hee-jung of the People Power Party said on the 14th at the National Assembly Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee audit held in Yeouido, Seoul, targeting LH and others, "I visited an apartment complex in Incheon at the end of September and saw many high-priced imported cars such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi," adding, "Even though (high-priced) cars were reported during the screening process, they still passed."
Kim went on to say, "At the time of the (eligibility) screening, there may have been no vehicles, with additional purchases made after the screening, so I have asked for frequent inspections, but it doesn't seem to be going well," adding, "There are even cases where they said they had (high-priced) vehicles at the time of screening and still passed."
Kim pointed out that there are situations in which applicants pass public rental housing admission screening by splitting equity in luxury cars such as Porsche to conceal the actual vehicle value. Kim said, "Vehicles for people with disabilities and national merit are exceptions, but equity splitting by ordinary applicants is a clear institutional loophole."
LH President Lee Han-jun said he was not aware of screenings passed through equity splitting, but noted, "There are manpower limits to on-site crackdowns, but we will strengthen frequent inspections."
Kim Gyu-cheol, head of the Housing and Land Office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "There is a clause in the public housing occupant asset work standards that looks only at vehicle equity, and we will review revising the standard for high-priced vehicles."
On the same day, Kim also pointed out that public rental housing located in areas such as Gangnam has recently been illegally rented out through lodging platforms such as Airbnb. Kim said, "They are committing illegal lodging activities using public rental housing, and it is even openly posted on lodging platforms."
In response, Lee said, "As there are limits to our internal investigations regarding illegal subletting and lodging, we will introduce measures such as a whistleblower reward program and respond proactively," adding, "We will work closely with the ministry to ensure the problem does not recur."