(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lim Hyeong-seop = President Lee Jae-myeong visited Incheon's Gyeyang district, where occupancy began for the first time among the 3rd new towns, on the 20th and highlighted the importance of rapid housing supply.
President Lee held an on-site housing supply meeting with prospective residents and urban and transportation experts, and also inspected the status of the new city development from the rooftop of an apartment building where construction is in full swing, Blue House Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jeong said in a written briefing.
At the same time, an order was given to fundamentally review the sale of original land as it could significantly shorten the supply period.
President Lee repeatedly emphasized the speed of supply in his remarks at the on-site meeting.
President Lee said, “The rapid supply of housing in the 3rd new city will be an important turning point that determines the success or failure of real estate policy,” and added, “I keep saying this, but the most important thing is speed.”
President Lee said, “From 2022 to last year, for unknown reasons, new housing permits and construction starts have decreased by nearly half,” and added, “As it takes about three years to supply housing after housing permits, a supply shortage is starting to appear. We need to increase new supply as much as possible.”
He continued, "We are still making a lot of efforts, but we will need to find additional areas that can be added in the future to fill the supply gap," and added, "Related organizations such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) should do their best to start construction on about 90% of the public housing stock in the 3rd new city by 2030, as per the goal announced in August."
At the same time, he asked, “Please break away from existing practices, reexamine all procedures from scratch, and do your best to advance the actual construction start plan by at least one day,” adding, “Please increase the speed as much as possible throughout all stages, including planning and land compensation.”
President Lee requested, “If there are any systems or regulations that interfere with this goal, they must be changed. Please discuss this openly and honestly.”
Incheon's Gyeyang region was also President Lee's constituency when he was a member of the National Assembly.
President Lee said, "I congratulate those who have moved in. It is very meaningful in that it is the first fruit of the 3rd new city housing supply," and added, "As someone who used to commute here, I am also impressed."
In addition, he ordered, "Usually, the government manages the 'start of construction' as the standard for housing supply, but I believe that the standard for housing supply should be 'occupancy' for the public to be able to feel it. Please thoroughly prepare major facilities such as transportation, education, and heating to avoid inconvenience to residents."
Meanwhile, President Lee received a report on the 'current status of housing supply in the metropolitan area' from Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-seon and pointed out that it is a problem that consultations with related ministries regarding the recruitment of LH personnel have not yet been completed.
At the same time, he requested that we also consider dramatically increasing financial incentives to ensure rapid supply.
LH President Lee Seong-hoon was asked to check the status of manpower recruitment and whether the extension of the period through civil litigation procedures in case of forced confinement was a problem of insufficient legislation, and instructed him to review and report on ways to supplement this.
In addition, a request was made to consider redefining terms such as ‘public lease’ and ‘permanent lease’.
