Due to duplicate wins, more than half of those selected to move into public rental dwellings over the past three years gave up their move-in.
On the 18th, according to materials submitted to Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker An Tae-jun of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee by Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH), Seoul Housing and Urban Development Corporation (SH), and Gyeonggi Housing & Urban Development Corporation (GH), the three public housing operators selected 261,301 public rental dwelling tenants from 2023 to 2025, but 54.4% (142,104 people) gave up moving in. The share of those who declined was 50.8% at LH, 73.7% at SH, and 64.4% at GH, exceeding half at all three operators.
Duplicate wins were so severe that in some cases there were more people giving up than selected to move in. The types where the ratio of dropouts to selected exceeded 100% were six: LH Newlyweds/Newborn II (acquisition rental, 110.1%), SH Hope Housing (construction rental, 125.0%), SH Redevelopment Rental (acquisition rental, 159.4%), SH Long-term Jeonse (acquisition rental, 103.9%), GH Happy Housing (construction rental, 151.6%), and GH Existing Dwellings Acquisition Rental (315.2%).
Because the eligibility criteria for public rental dwellings, such as income, are similar, many applicants submit duplicate applications to dwellings supplied by multiple operators and end up winning several at once. Among these, once they win a dwelling that most closely matches their preferred conditions, they give up moving into the rest.
Because of this, a "mismatch" occurs in which truly needed demand misses the chance to move into dwellings that duplicate winners applied for and later gave up, and it has been flagged in some quarters as leading to administrative inefficiency.
Even now, for preliminary tenants, who are effectively on a waiting list for public rental dwellings, operators integrate and share a consolidated roster to prevent duplicate selections. However, this system does not apply to initial winners, and even for preliminary tenants, only the construction rental preliminary tenant list is managed, excluding acquisition rentals.
An Tae-jun said, "The fact that more than half of public rental dwelling selectees give up moving in shows inefficiencies in the current operation of public rentals," adding, "It is urgent not only to supply new public rentals but also to distribute existing public rentals efficiently."