Oh Se-hoon Says He Will Ease Housing Insecurity for Newlyweds... 17,500 Mirinae House Units to Be Supplied by 2030

[Financial News] Seoul Metropolitan Government will supply an additional 17,500 units of Mirinae House, a long-term lease housing program for newlyweds, by 2030. It also plans to improve the program's effectiveness by allowing deposit installments and expanding the right of first refusal. Residents said Mirinae House had helped stabilize their housing and supported their plans to have children, but they also called for system improvements, including help with buying a home after long-term occupancy, larger unit options, and loan support.
On the morning of the 1st, Oh visited Mirinae House at Jamsil Le El in Sincheon-dong, Songpa District, Seoul, to inspect the housing facilities and meet with newlywed residents.
Jamsil Le El is a large residential complex with 1,865 households near Jamsil Station. It includes 98 Mirinae House units and 100 long-term lease units. It is the first site to apply the deposit installment system introduced by Seoul Metropolitan Government in April. Of the 98 Mirinae House households, 74, or 76%, applied for the system, allowing them to split the roughly 15.8 billion won deposit due at move-in.
After receiving a report on the program's progress and the results of the deposit installment system, Oh toured the public daycare center, dining cafe, and residential spaces in the complex. At the meeting that followed, residents said moving into Mirinae House had helped them make concrete plans for childbirth, but they also asked for policy improvements related to loans, larger units, and homeownership after long-term residence.
One attendee said, "It is realistically difficult to buy the home we are living in now while also coping with the rise in housing prices 20 years from now," and added, "We need a way to extend the residency period until our children become adults, or a path to own a home through a shared-equity model."
Another attendee said, "When the number of family members increases because of childbirth, please ease the relocation requirements so we can move to a larger unit without waiting 10 years." Concerns were also raised about the difficulty of knowing when vacant units would become available and where the new complex would be located, as well as problems with obtaining company loans because financing is executed before registration and joint ownership is restricted.
Oh said, "There are cases where people give up on moving in because they cannot raise a large lump sum even after qualifying," and added, "We will minimize such cases by allowing residents to pay 70% of the deposit first and the remaining 30% in installments."
He continued, "The more units we secure, the more options residents will have when they want to move to a larger unit or choose a home to purchase later on." He added, "We are discussing with the government a plan to allocate a certain share of newly secured land for long-term lease housing and Mirinae House."
Since Mirinae House was first supplied in July 2024, the city had provided a total of 7,108 units through August. It plans to secure about 4,000 units each year and supply a total of 17,500 additional units by 2030.
This year's major planned supply sites include Magok Complex 16, Hillstate Mapo The First, Mapo Xi Hillstate Rachelles, and Hillstate Deungchon Station.
The city has also proposed to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that the current standard allowing up to 50% of long-term lease housing units to be allocated to Mirinae House be expanded to 70%. Oh said that if new rental housing increases through redevelopment and higher FAR, Mirinae House supply could also expand beyond the original plan.
In addition, the city is reviewing improvements to the right of first refusal. At present, the rule is based on children born after the date of the move-in recruitment notice, but the city plans to broaden the scope of children counted under the right of first refusal so that households with children born before move-in can also benefit from homeownership opportunities.
Meanwhile, Mirinae House has faced criticism that it is being supplied mainly in expensive reconstructed apartment complexes, which runs counter to the policy goal of protecting vulnerable housing groups.
In response, Oh explained, "Long-term lease housing began from the philosophy that public rental housing should not be limited to low-income households, and that middle-class families should also be able to use it." He added, "The idea is to create breathing room so that opportunities to own a home do not go only to those who could afford to buy one when they were young." He also said, "However, I am still thinking about how to address the drawback that the current price range makes it difficult for young people to move in."
[email protected] Choi A-young Reporter