More Rental Houses,
Housing Welfare

Korea Nat'l Housing Corp. to build low-cost rental houses, apartments for low-income people


President Choi Jae-dok of the Korea National Housing Corp. said he will try to find ways to supply houses for lower prices to the general public.
During his first meeting with reporters after taking the highest office at the KNHC, he said housing is one of the five factors crucial to the livelihood of the people along with medicine, food, job and education. "I will try to help people realize their dreams to own their own houses,"said the former vice minister of the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.
For the lower 20 percent of the income bracket, he said, he will try to expand the number of rental units at lower rents for those in the third and fourth income brackets.
The CEO said housing prices should be low to allow people to own their own homes and he will try to find ways for the KNHC to build low-cost houses.
The new CEO said he will also lead the KNHC to improve the landscaping of its apartments because people should live in natural surroundings.
He also said the KNHC will not build residences or apartments bigger than 85 square meters in size, considered too large and therefore too expensive for the general public to buy.
Choi believes that larger houses and apartments should be left to private construction companies to build, while the KNHC should continue to take care of building smaller residences for rental houses and welfare housing.
With regard to the possible merger of the KNHC and the Korea Land Corp., he said it is up to policymakers, and it is not proper for him to say anything about it. On the disclosure of housing construction costs, he said he would have to know the details of the issue and then give the matter serious thought.
He said he has returned to public life at an advanced age, adding that it is an opportunity for him to give back to the country everything he learned during a long career in public service, particularly in the areas of land and housing.
The KNHC was set up in 1962 with the mission of improving public living standards and welfare through housing construction and urban redevelopment.
The KNHC has been devoting much of its work to the creation of a better housing culture in the country in order to transform the concept of housing ownership through construction and providing diverse types of rental housing including the National Rental Housing, purchased multi-unit rental housing with deposits, etc.
National Rental Housing is a sort of public rental housing constructed with government financing and the National Housing Fund, and is rented for the long term at a low price to people who are homeless or have a low income.
The KNHC purchases and repairs multi-unit tenement houses and rents them to vulnerable people who are living downtown at 30 percent of the market price so that they can live at a practical income level. Fifty-thousand of these rental housing units will be provided by 2015.
The KNHC also provides housing management services including tenant management, facility management and housing welfare services at 12 nationwide branches, and outsources daily maintenance tasks including security, cleaning, etc.
It plays the role of providing a social security net through the subsidy of management expenses for the low-income classes and the provision of housing welfare services in conjunction with local governments and welfare organizations. nw

President Choi Jae-dok of Korea National Housing Corp. at his recent inaugural ceremony.

A row of apartments built by Korea National Housing Corp.