▲ Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-sun visits the Godeok Gangil District project site.
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Hong Ji-sun visited a private housing construction site in the Godeok Gangil District in Seoul on October 8 and called for swift support through project financing (PF) guarantees by the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG) to ensure no disruptions in housing supply.
On this day, Minister Hong visited the "Godeok Gangil Daesung Verthill" project site located in the Godeok Gangil District to inspect the project's progress and held a meeting with housing construction stakeholders, including developers and builders.
Following her visit to the Bucheon Daejang district in the 3rd-phase new town as her first housing supply site inspection on September 22, Minister Hong visited a private housing supply site on this day.
Minister Hong emphasized, "To achieve the government's promise to the public of breaking ground on more than 1.5 million homes in the Seoul metropolitan area between 2026 and 2030, the role of the private sector, which has accounted for over 80 percent of metropolitan housing supply, is more important than anything else."
She added that follow-up measures for the swift housing supply plan announced on August 13 are being implemented without a hitch to recover private housing supply, which has contracted since 2022.
The government is expanding PF guarantee supplies from HUG and the Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF) to 86 trillion won for the 2026–2028 period, while also pushing for urban and architectural deregulation and incentives for early ground-breaking.
Minister Hong requested, "HUG must also make every effort to ensure that PF guarantees are provided swiftly and without disruption so that construction financing does not become a stumbling block to housing supply."
In addition, she pointed out, "Even in regulated areas in the metropolitan area where housing supply is urgent, there are a significant number of project sites that have received permits but failed to break ground due to financial and regulatory reasons."
She stated, "We plan to soon launch an inter-ministerial integrated support body for housing supply project sites to closely support housing construction sites at each stage of the project, from before permit issuance to after breaking ground."
Minister Hong stressed, "We must mobilize all supply capabilities regardless of whether they are public or private, and we will boldly eliminate obstacles to housing supply so that the private supply ecosystem can be restored as soon as possible."
In a post uploaded to her X (formerly Twitter) account for the first time since taking office, Minister Hong also addressed the issue of delayed permits, stating, "I have witnessed several sites in Gyeonggi Province where a single consultation eats up months. I will review issues by project with relevant ministries and local governments, and I will personally take charge of blocked matters."
Regarding sites where ground-breaking is delayed due to concerns over unsold properties despite having received permits, she stated, "We will back them up through purchase commitments for unsold homes and new construction purchase agreements by the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH), and in particular, we will break ground on 140,000 public-purchase rental housing units in the metropolitan area by 2030."
(Photo provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Yonhap News)
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