[Editorial] Public Rental Housing Must Be Built Well to Attract Tenants

The government said it would supply a total of 1.19 million publicly supported homes by 2030, including 190,000 universal public rental units. Its medium- to long-term plan to expand eligibility for public rentals from low-income households to the middle class, increase supply in urban centers and near transit stations, and provide more medium-sized units is a positive step. However, critics say it will do little to ease the immediate instability in the monthly rental and jeonse markets, while key measures concerning funding and location are still missing.
MOLIT announced the Housing Stability Plan on the 21st, calling for an average of 238,000 homes to be supplied annually—more than the 160,000-unit average of the past decade. Of the 1.19 million homes, 243,000 will be public-sale units, while the remainder will be rental housing supplied through construction, purchases, and jeonse rentals. If the plan proceeds as scheduled, the number of long-term public rental units, which can be occupied for at least 10 years, will rise from 1.931 million in 2024 to more than 2.5 million in 2030.
The centerpiece of the announcement is the universal public rental program. Units built on designated housing sites will have exclusive floor areas of 55 to 85 square meters, while those in urban centers will mainly range from 40 to 60 square meters. Two-bay layouts will be upgraded to three- and four-bay designs. Finishing materials will be raised to the level of private apartments, and more built-in appliances will be installed. Public rentals have suffered high vacancy rates because of strict income and asset requirements, small floor plans, and locations on the outskirts. As a result, prospective tenants had little choice but to turn to private rentals with heavy rent burdens and a high risk of jeonse fraud. This time, the government should first commit to creating premium, exemplary rental housing.
The government says it will announce a detailed plan by the end of the year. It must adequately address core issues such as eligibility requirements and rents. Supplying rental housing with the quality of private apartments in prime urban locations at affordable prices for up to 20 years will require enormous funding. The burden on the national budget and public housing providers such as Korea Land and Housing (LH) therefore appears unavoidable.
Some analysts say the plan is inadequate as a measure for the monthly rental and jeonse markets. As jeonse prices have risen recently, particularly in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area, even properties on Seoul's outskirts are being offered with jeonse deposits exceeding 1 billion won, aggravating market instability. However, the plan includes not only new construction starts but also purchases of existing homes, so its effect on increasing the overall housing supply is expected to be limited. As a supply measure to stabilize the market, it falls short.
Public-led supply policies are important, but the government must also open the way for private rental and home-sale supply, which account for a substantial share of the housing market. This requires easing reconstruction and redevelopment regulations, along with regulatory improvements such as revising the owner-occupancy requirement. Since direct public purchases and construction face clear financial and time constraints, the government should consider a public-private two-track strategy that makes proactive use of the registered private rental business system to expand the supply of privately provided long-term rental housing.
For this plan not to become a list of numbers, the detailed measures to be announced by the end of the year must include locations favored by young people and those without homes, as well as ways to secure the fiscal soundness of public institutions such as LH. The government should also regularly disclose progress by project and region, along with actual move-in dates, to reduce market uncertainty. Housing stability policy must be proved through homes that people can actually move into, not numerical promises in an announcement.