New SH president vows to provide half-price housing

Kim Heon-dong (pictured), the new president of Seoul Housing Corporation (SH), announced Monday his plan to expand housing supplies through budget apartments titled “leasehold land housing.” Mentioning the latest corruption scandals at Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), Kim vowed to dispel mistrust of public housing corporations in South Korea.

In an inauguration ceremony at SH Headquarters in Seoul, Kim pledged to lessen the burden of initial housing payment by pressing ahead with a policy where the land is owned by the government and only the buildings are distributed. The new SH president also proposed a development plan to secure as much land as possible.

During a confirmation hearing at Seoul Metropolitan Council last Wednesday, Kim announced his plan to drive a “half-price apartments” initiative, mentioning leasehold land housing. For the land where the budget apartments are to be build on, he mentioned the premises of SETEC in Gangnam and a public parking lot in Susie-dong.

Kim also stressed the responsibility of government in the matter of housing. “Over the past 10 years, an additional five million houses were provided, but the number of homeowners rose only by one million,” he said. “Because those who already have houses keep on buying houses, the government’s housing policy largely benefited multi-house owners rather those without one.”

　

The president of SH Corporation also cited recovery of trust towards housing corporations, which was severely eroded owing to the LH scandals, as a task that must be fulfilled. “The speculations committed by some executives and employees at LH Corporation caused public anger, and all in all, the trust on public corporations plummeted owing to the Daejang-dong real-estate project scandal.” He stressed that integrity must be part of the fabric of public service to fight corruption.

SH Corporation is planning to introduce a separate measure to prevent housing speculations through insider information.

A former member of Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice, Kim has been a vocal opponent of the Moon Jae-in administration’s real-estate policies. The term for SH presidency is three years.


Seng-Hyun Kang byhuman@donga.com