The president laughed wide, but happy housing residents complaining about the burden of administrative expenses

President Moon Jae-in, who visited the Hwaseong House in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province on the 11th of last month, was satisfied with the facility and said, “A lot of young newlyweds will prefer it.” I think we need to make a’residential ladder’ that can develop into a house.” As President Moon said, the current government is focusing on’providing quality rental housing’.

However, the management cost (unit price based on exclusive area) of happy housing is more than twice that of ordinary apartments, which is different from the purpose of creating a happy house to reduce the burden of housing expenses. This is the result of a survey by JoongAng Ilbo on the average common management cost per 1㎡ of exclusive area of ​​15 happy houses in Gyeonggi Province (more than 150 households and less than 400 households) registered in the apartment management information system on the 14th.

As of October 2020, the common management cost of 15 happy houses was 2,759 won, more than twice the national average of 1110 won and the Gyeonggi province average of 1156 won. In particular, the average unit price of labor costs was 1608 won for happy houses, four times higher than the national average of 412 won.

The unit cost of management costs varies depending on the heating type of the apartment, the number of furniture, and the exclusive area. In the case of apartment complexes that use district heating like a happy house, have a small number of households, and have a small exclusive area per household, the unit cost of maintenance is relatively high. However, even taking this into account, the unit price for the maintenance of a happy house is very high. The average management cost of rental housing is 1307 won, and district heating apartment is 1175 won. The average management cost for a complex of 150-300 households was 1271 won, which was more than twice as high as the happy house.

The high management cost of happy housing is a problem that has already been pointed out several times. At the 2018 national audit, lawmakers Kim Young-jin (the Democratic Party of Korea) and Song Seok-joon (the power of the people) made the issue public. At that time, related organizations such as the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and Seoul Housing and Urban Corporation (SH) said, “We will promote joint management with neighboring rental complexes and expand support for discounts on water and electricity bills, etc.” did. In fact, LH revised the Housing Management Act in February 2019, and piloted the joint management of small-scale happy housing complexes in three regions. But even now, two years later, this problem hasn’t improved significantly.

In particular, it was found that the burden of residents was greater for’good-quality rental housing’ with a good location and various amenities. A representative example is Seongnam Pangyo Happy House, which started moving in last October. Although this apartment is located in the center of Pangyo Techno Valley, the location is excellent, but residents complain that excessive management fees are being imposed. Resident Seomo said, “Management costs are abnormally high. The happy housing that the government has offered as a housing solution is ruined into unfortunate housing.”

In fact, the common management cost per 1㎡ of exclusive area of ​​this apartment is the highest among the happy houses. In October last year, it was 4067 won, and in November it was higher to 5,429 won. The cost of managing an apartment with a dedicated area of ​​26m2 (approximately 8 pyeong) is 150,000-200,000 won, which is the level of a general small (20 pyeong) apartment.

Gyeonggi Housing and Urban Corporation (GH), which provided this apartment as the resistance of residents became fierce, said, “We have greatly expanded the convenience facilities such as open kitchens, joint work rooms, gyms, and seminar rooms for the convenience of residents and a pleasant living environment. It was set high,” he explained.

“Priority is given to setting an affordable management fee over good facilities”

As the situation is like this, the interest of young people who are the targets of happy housing is also decreasing. In October of last year, Rep. Jang Kyung-tae (Democratic Party) said, “The percentage of happy houses (non-occupancy after construction) has risen significantly from 4% a year ago to 8.5% (8.1% as of December 2020).” He stressed that “we need to accurately identify the cause and take measures.”

Experts stressed that it is important to improve the quality of residential services by creating various facilities, but it should be reviewed first to see if the resulting management costs are at a level that residents can afford. Kang Eun-taek, a senior researcher at the Korea Housing Management Institute, said, “We won the happiness housing as part of the housing welfare, but it is not common sense to pay more for the management fee than ordinary apartments. It is good to have good facilities, It seems that the preliminary review of Korea has been neglected so far.”

A GH official also said, “It is true that we have not been able to inform tenants in advance that the management cost of Happy House can be high due to the focus on providing quality facilities,” he said. “We will discuss ways to reduce the management cost with tenants.”

Reporter Kim Won [email protected]