The Seoul Metropolitan Government said past decisions to cancel redevelopment zones and pursue urban regeneration weakened the city's housing supply base. It said 389 redevelopment zones were scrapped between 2012 and 2020, the tenure of former Mayor Park Won-soon, costing the city the chance to supply about 430,000 homes.
The city said on the 16th that it will publish a white paper titled "Assessment and Reflection on 20 Years of Seoul's Housing Supply Policy," analyzing the achievements and limits of housing supply over the past two decades.
Of the 683 redevelopment zones citywide, 389 were canceled between 2012 and 2020, shaking the supply base during Park's administration, the city said. That accounts for about 57% of the total, and the city estimated that the cancellations cost it the opportunity to supply roughly 430,000 homes. Of those, 159 zones were canceled after a project entity had been formed, and 11 were canceled even after project implementation approval, it said.
Kim Sung-bo, Seoul's second vice mayor for administrative affairs, said at a briefing that day that the previous administration had an internal project code-named the "ABC measures." "Zone A was to be canceled, Zone B was to be weighed between cancellation and retention, and Zone C was to proceed. Zones were canceled or retained accordingly," Kim said. "We prepared the white paper because we believe it is right to start with an accurate understanding of the past and then share the discussion on stabilizing the housing market."
Of the canceled zones, 177 are now pursuing redevelopment again. The city said this shows residents still want better living conditions. "Even where redevelopment was halted, residents' desire to improve their living environment did not disappear," the city said. "It shows that cancellation was not the answer for improving living conditions or supplying housing."
The city also criticized cases in which residents' views and procedural legitimacy were not sufficiently secured during the cancellation process. According to the city, 66 of the 389 canceled zones, or 17%, were canceled by administrative authority on grounds such as ordinance revisions, without any survey of residents. Another 264 zones, or 68%, went through a survey at residents' request but with flawed procedures, while 59 zones, or 15%, were canceled under the sunset rule.
"In Singil District 1 and Jangwi Districts 8 and 9, resident surveys were conducted only as a formality," the city said. "In Singil 1, participation was 12.4%, but the process was closed without counting the ballots and without any effort to raise turnout. In Jangwi 8 and 9, participation was 44%, yet with no effort to raise it, the result was treated as opposition." The city added that in Jangwi District 11, cancellation by administrative authority was pursued using consent forms signed by people who had died.
The city said the cancellations have reduced construction starts. Redevelopment construction starts fell to an annual average of 15,000 units in 2021-2025 from 29,000 units a year in 2016-2020, according to city figures. Because redevelopment takes years from zone designation to groundbreaking, the city said a supply cliff is now emerging as a result of the past cancellations and the slowdown in new designations.
Myung No-jun, head of Seoul's housing bureau, said housing supply targets must be met and residents must be able to see that they are being met. "To ensure a steady volume of supply, we will provide continued support with a target of about 40,000 units a year from private redevelopment projects and 20,000 units of public housing," Myung said. "If we create predictability by showing what kind of housing is coming and where, the market will stabilize."