Oh Se-hoon pledges 74,000 youth housing units in Seoul by 2030

Seoul-style 'Saessak' studio rooms to reach 10,000 units near universities by 2030

Growth housing for STEM graduate students to be built near university clusters

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announces the city's youth housing stability measures at Seoul City Hall in March. [Yonhap]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has pledged to supply 74,000 youth housing units by 2030, expanding a package of measures that spans public housing supply, housing cost support and jeonse fraud prevention.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited Konkuk University on Tuesday — the final day of his eighth-term mayoralty — to hold a town hall meeting with about 30 students on the city's youth housing policy, known as The Dream Home Plus.

The city launched The Dream Home Plus, an integrated public housing supply system targeting young people and university students, in March, and announced a youth housing stability plan to deliver a total of 74,000 units by 2030. The initiative centers on restoring a housing ladder that provides seamless support at each stage of life, from university students to early-career workers and newlyweds.

Under the plan, the city will supply 10,000 Seoul-style "Saessak" studio rooms for university students by 2030. The program — a campaign pledge from the local elections in May — secures studio apartments and shared houses near university campuses or areas with good commuting access through private operators, then offers them to low-income students at below-market rates. Move-in students will also receive interest-free deposit support of up to 6 million won ($3,890).

The city will also supply growth housing for STEM master's and doctoral researchers. Starting with 17 units in Mapo-gu's Seongsan-dong this year, the program will expand to 60 units in Gwanak-gu's Sillim-dong and 23 units in Dongdaemun-gu's Imun-dong, focusing on areas with high concentrations of universities. Residents can stay for up to 10 years at rents set at 30 to 50 percent of market rates.

Seoul will also build youth-specialized housing for employed early-career workers. The city plans to develop three youth-focused mixed-use complexes — each combining residential units with facilities for young companies — totaling 1,000 units on underused city-owned sites, and to supply 600 live-near-work youth growth housing units near industrial clusters. The two initiatives together will provide 1,600 youth-specialized units in total.

In addition, the city plans to supply 2,000 units of "Didimol Housing" — public youth safe housing with rents averaging 100,000 won lower than standard rates — targeting low-income early-career workers.

The annual supply of "Mirinaezip" — long-term jeonse housing convertible to ownership — will be expanded to 4,000 units a year. The city also aims to recruit the first residents this year for "Baronaezip," a scheme under which buyers transfer ownership upon paying only a down payment and settle the balance in installments over 20 years, with a total target of 600 units.

An overview of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's youth housing stability measures. [Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government]

The city is also shifting its approach to jeonse fraud from post-incident response to pre-contract prevention. An AI-powered jeonse fraud risk analysis service will allow prospective tenants to check a property's ownership status and the recoverability of their deposit before signing. A separate safe-contract assistance service will pair users with licensed real estate agents who guide them from pre-contract consultation through to signing.

Prevention briefings and one-on-one consultations through local youth centers will be expanded. Young people who have suffered jeonse fraud will receive priority consideration for the city's monthly rent support program. Victims will also be eligible for housing maintenance cost support and 1 million won in emergency housing funds to help them recover. The support targets young people with incomes at or below 100 percent of the median.

Monthly rent support will continue. Since 2020, the city has provided young residents with 200,000 won per month in rent assistance. Including support from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's youth rent program, about 180,000 people had benefited through 2025, and the city will support 15,000 more this year.

Applicants not selected due to high demand will be covered by a new pilot program offering 80,000 won per month toward maintenance fees — a measure designed to close gaps in support.

After the town hall, Oh visited a Moatown redevelopment site in Gwangjin-gu near the Konkuk University campus. Moatown is an urban renewal program in which residents of aging low-rise neighborhoods pool their lots to develop housing on a block-by-block basis, in areas where large-scale redevelopment is not feasible.

The Moatown site near Konkuk University will introduce "generation-divided Moa housing," in which a single dwelling is split into two fully independent units, each with its own entrance, bathroom and kitchen.

Young residents will have privacy in their own self-contained spaces while sharing apartment-grade amenities such as CCTV, a gym, a study cafe and parking. The city plans to upgrade aging housing stock, secure more youth accommodation and improve the local environment through park and road improvements — all at the same time.

"Housing should never be the reason young people leave Seoul," Oh said. "We will focus all our policy resources on restoring the ladder of social mobility and building a Seoul where young people can sign leases with confidence and live with peace of mind." He added that he would "make sure these promises are carried out when the ninth-term administration launches in July."

quq@heraldcorp.com