Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH), winner of the Presidential Commission on Architecture Policy Chairman's Award for special merit, was recognized for supporting housing stability among residents who do not own a home and laying a stepping stone toward homeownership through its long-term jeonse program, SHift. The program lets tenants live in a unit for up to 20 years with a deposit below market rates, allowing them to build assets and expanding the role of public rental housing.
SH has broadened the target of public rental housing beyond low-income households to middle-class households that do not own a home. The long-term jeonse (a lump-sum deposit lease) housing program, introduced in 2007 as the first of its kind in the country, is a public housing model designed to let middle-class households live securely without owning a home. The program aims for quality indistinguishable from privately sold apartments and brings together residents across income levels, lowering both the barriers to public rental housing and the social stigma attached to it. Since its launch, SH has supplied a total of 38,296 units and supported housing stability for a cumulative 45,715 households.
The strength of the long-term jeonse program lies in easing housing cost burdens so that tenants can set aside resources to prepare for the future. According to SH, the average deposit for a long-term jeonse unit stands at 293 million won ($206,000) this year, about 41% of the 710 million won average jeonse price for a Seoul apartment. SH estimates the cumulative savings in housing costs at about 10 trillion won ($7 billion).
Location and quality have also backed up the program. By aiming for quality on par with privately sold apartments, SH has helped tenants maintain their jobs, schools and other foundations of daily life while easing the burden of frequent moves.
The program's role as a housing ladder leading to homeownership showed up in survey findings as well. A 2022 panel survey of SH public rental housing tenants found that 72% of households that moved out of long-term jeonse units between 2016 and 2021 were living in homes they owned after leaving. That was 12 percentage points higher than the 60% rate for all households that moved out of public rental housing. A cycle has also formed in which units vacated by tenants who have built assets and moved on to their next housing stage are supplied to new households that do not own a home. According to SH, 82.4% of departing households left voluntarily, to buy a home or move into privately leased jeonse housing.
The program's innovations continue in Mirinae Jip, a model for newlyweds. Introduced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in 2024, Mirinae Jip redesigns the existing long-term jeonse framework by first providing stable housing to engaged and childless newlywed couples, then granting extended tenancy and homeownership opportunities to those who have children. It has widened the range of options to include newly built units in the Gangnam area, such as Jamsil and Cheongdam, as well as mid- to large-sized homes, supplying a cumulative 7,108 units through August this year.
An SH official said, "We will sustain a virtuous cycle in which long-term jeonse housing becomes an opportunity for the next resident without a home, and we will take care to ensure it becomes a ladder of hope for Seoul residents."
