Ruling Party: Supply Can Come from Tancheon or Yongsan; Small-Scale Redevelopment Powers Should Go to Autonomous Districts

[Financial News] On Seoul housing supply sites, the Lee Jae-myung administration has proposed Yongsan Park, while the Seoul Metropolitan Government under Oh Se-hoon has suggested the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea said it would review all possible sites for housing supply, whether in Yongsan or Tancheon.
At a policy coordination meeting on the 27th, Han Byung-do said, "What the public urgently needs is the speed of supply. If there is any place where homes can be built, we must keep every possibility open and examine it." He added, "For Tancheon, we should seek ways to use it for housing, and for Yongsan, we should do the same for young people and ordinary citizens. That is the attitude of an administration that takes responsibility for supply."
Han also criticized Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and the main opposition People Power Party for opposing the use of Yongsan Park land, saying, "How can the public accept an attitude that says supply is urgent, yet certain sites cannot even be discussed?" He added, "We will not be swayed by the irresponsible delay tactics of Mayor Oh and the People Power Party, and we will complete follow-up legislation for the government's housing supply measures."
The Democratic Party plans to pass bills at the next plenary session of the National Assembly to accelerate housing supply. These include revisions to the Act on the Improvement of Urban Areas and Residential Environments and the urban redevelopment promotion law, which would temporarily ease the upper limit on floor-area ratios for public redevelopment projects and shorten the procedural timeline by allowing basic planning, redevelopment zone designation, and redevelopment plan approval to proceed at the same time. The party also plans to handle revisions to the Yongsan Park Creation Special Act, which would relax some green-space standards for sites such as Camp Kim.
In addition, the party will push for revisions to the redevelopment law that would transfer authority over small-scale redevelopment projects involving up to 500 households, agreed upon by the ruling party and the government, to heads of autonomous districts. In Seoul, this would allow district offices, rather than City Hall, to lead such projects. Han said, "This is a practical measure to reduce permitting bottlenecks by allowing autonomous districts to make swift decisions based on local conditions." He added, "What the public is waiting for is not the protection of the Seoul mayor's authority, but homes delivered on time."

[email protected] Kim Yun-ho Reporter