Lee Jae-myung: "Supply Public Rental Housing for Actual Residents; Impose Strong Regulations on Non-Residential Properties"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung stated, "To resolve current real estate problems, we must supply quality long-term public rental housing that the middle class can afford, and impose strong regulations on non-residential properties to make unearned income impossible."

Gyeonggi Province held the "2020 Gyeonggi Province Social Housing Conference" on the 6th at Novotel Ambassador Suwon to share domestic and international cases on social housing and raise public awareness of the necessity and importance of social housing.

The event was attended by approximately 50 people, including Governor Lee Jae-myung, Vice Chairman Jin Yong-bok of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council, President Lee Heon-wook of Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Development Corporation, and officials related to social housing, social economy, and social finance.

In his opening remarks, Governor Lee stated, "In the Republic of Korea, so-called real estate speculation, housing speculation, and apartment speculation are occurring—where people accumulate essential residential spaces and monopolize them, causing tremendous damage to others. This is a serious economic problem and a factor causing many people to despair. Housing issues are particularly one of the important reasons young people are giving up on marriage and childbearing."

He continued, "For housing actually used for residential purposes, we should protect it reasonably, while minimizing so-called panic buying—demand for housing to make money or purchases driven by anxiety about not being able to buy a house later. If we supply long-term public rental housing like social housing that allows people to live without necessarily buying a home, and quality housing in good locations that the middle class can afford, people can live comfortably without buying expensive properties."

Governor Lee emphasized, "For non-demand housing, we must impose high taxes, eliminate financial benefits, and restrict specific land transactions as Gyeonggi Province has been doing recently. Through these methods, it is important to give citizens confidence that an era is coming where unearned income from real estate speculation will be impossible."

The conference, held under the theme "Living Together, Creating Value" and broadcast live through social live streaming, consisted of three sessions.

In the first session, overseas speakers including Janice Abbott, Chair of the Federal Government's Right to Housing Committee of Canada, introduce "International Social Housing Cases," and panelists discuss insights from them.

The second session features "Social Housing Capital Financing" as its theme, with Chris Dobrzanski, CEO of Canada's Community Forward Foundation, and Kim Jeong-hyun, Director of the Korean Social Value Solidarity Fund, giving lectures and discussing ways to activate social finance.

In the final third session, under the theme "Activating Gyeonggi Province-type Social Housing," Jin Jae-il, Head of Gyeonggi Province's Social Housing Team, introduces Gyeonggi Province's social housing policies and directions, followed by discussions on tasks for activating Gyeonggi Province-type social housing.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province-type social housing is a project where the Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Development Corporation (GH) purchases land proposed by social economy entities such as non-profit organizations and cooperatives, and leases the land at low cost to these entities so they can conduct rental housing businesses.

The province has been conducting recruitment for pilot projects on Gyeonggi Province-type social housing since the 30th of last month and plans to select final operators and candidate sites after February of next year.