NAMYANGJU — Choi Hyun-duk, mayor of Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province, met Prime Minister Han Seong-sook to ask the central government to put cooperative-style public-support private rental housing on a permanent legal footing, expand metropolitan rail links in the northeastern Seoul area and ease fiscal burdens on local governments. He specifically requested legal and regulatory changes that would allow Wistay Byeollae, whose mandatory lease period expires in 2028, to be converted into cooperative-run, publicly supported shared housing where residents can stay long term.
According to the city of Namyangju on the 7th, Choi presented key policy requests under the banner of "Namyangju's Great Transformation in the Era of Civic Sovereignty" to Han when the prime minister visited Wistay Byeollae on the 6th. The complex was the country's first cooperative-style public-support private rental housing project.
Also at the site were Kim Yi-tak, first vice minister of land, infrastructure and transport; Lee Sung-hoon, president of the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH); Choi In-ho, president of the Korea Housing & Urban Guaranty Corporation (HUG); Yang Dong-soo, chief executive of the social innovation firm Deoham; and officials from the residents' cooperative.
The participants shared the status of the project and examples of how the residents' community is run at a neighborhood bookstore inside the complex, then toured a community cafe, a gymnasium, a lawn plaza and a creative workshop. They reviewed an operating model in which the cooperative handles not only management of the living space but also care services, cultural programs and community activities, and discussed how to develop sustainable housing models.
Wistay Byeollae has 491 units, and its eight-year mandatory lease period ends in June 2028. Under current rules, however, there is no separate management framework that would let a social cooperative run the complex over the long term once the lease period is over, leaving the city to consider how to build a system that secures housing stability for residents.
Choi therefore asked for a revision of the Special Act on Private Rental Housing that would convert the existing rental complex into "cooperative-run, publicly supported shared housing" and allow residents to live there stably for 20 years or more. He also stressed the need to diversify how public housing is supplied by extending the cooperative housing model to new public housing districts such as Wangsuk and Wangsuk 2.
Expanding local transport infrastructure was another key request. To relieve chronic congestion in the northeastern part of the greater Seoul area, Choi asked that new GTX-D, E, F and G lines be included in the fifth national railway network plan, and that extensions of Seoul subway lines 3, 6 and 8 (the Byeollae Line) into Namyangju be written into the fifth metropolitan transport implementation plan.
He also called for changes in local finance and welfare rules. He asked the government to establish a principle of giving priority to guaranteed ordinary local grant taxes following the creation of a state future response fund, to shift home- and facility-based long-term care benefits for older medical aid recipients to the national government, and to restore state subsidies for the personnel costs of social service agents. He also requested practical rule changes such as deferring orders to dispose of farmland in areas slated for development, including public housing districts.
Choi further proposed a reasonable revision of provisions in the enforcement decree of the Special Act on the Designation and Management of Development Restriction Zones to improve conditions for businesses seeking to locate in greenbelt areas.
"Wistay Byeollae is a leading example of housing innovation, where residents have built their own care services and community culture," Choi said. "We need to put in place an institutional foundation so that residents can continue to live here stably even after the mandatory lease period ends."
"We will keep consulting with the central government so that Namyangju's major priorities are reflected in national policy, including expanding the cooperative housing model to new public housing districts such as Wangsuk, building out metropolitan rail links, easing local fiscal burdens and improving regulations on business locations," he said.
