How to Increase the Supply of Rental Housing through Urban Regeneration Program in Korea

ABSTRACT The authors derived rental housing policy measures that are appropriate for the current conditions of Korean housing supply and demand based on the confirmation of the issues of Korean rental housing system and reviewing implications from review of cases of foreign countries and these measures can be categorized into linkage with the urban regeneration and multi-functional development, acquisition of financial resources, operational management, policy and institutional aspects. For the expansion of supply of rental housing, it is essential to link the rental housing policy with urban regeneration. To pursue regeneration of underdeveloped areas and expansion of supply of rental housing in line with urban regeneration, more development sites should be added. Further, the rental home policy must be integrated into a new paradigm that includes securing commercial viability and providing various residential conveniences through multi-functional development. In addition, diversification of developers of real estates turning away from the existing framework of policy that has been focused only on the state-led housing supply so that local governments and private sector players can take part in. Next, new options for funding the supply of rental housing must be sought. First, raising financial resources sequentially through cyclical development approach could be considered. Or, various funding schemes including utilizing Tax-increment financing (TIF) based on the local tax revenues that will be accrued after the development projects and supply of rental housing. Or there should be various schemes to raise funds including utilization of TIFs that are based on the revenues that will be realized after the development projects and supply of rental housing, or utilizing REITs where funds can be provided through private sector investments. Also, getting out from the planning practice that focused only on physical expansion of supply of rental housing, continual operational management must be performed even after the development. These activities must be supported through establishment of control- tower at the national level and continuous attention must be paid even after the development by developing specialized operational management companies that are led by private sector players. Finally, in addition to the hardware support that is focused on the public rental housing only, software support such as conditional provision of housing voucher or tax exemption for low-income classes should be provided, too. In other words, a shift from policies that are supplier-centric to ones that are customer-centric must take place.Key words: Urban Regeneration, Rental Housing, Happiness HousingLHI Journal (2014) 5(3):137-149 http://dx.doi.org/10.5804/LHIJ.2014.5.3.137http://lhi.lh.or.kr