Housing Policy Seoul, Korea Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Housing Policy Seoul, Korea - Research Paper Example ty has also experienced extensive sprawl and suburbanization, growing into a metropolis of twenty million citizens in neighboring provinces and cities. In the face of this abrupt and phenomenal expansion, Seoul metropolitan Government has had to manage emerging urban challenges with a fair share of lamentable mistakes and success stories (Yoonseuk, 2012). As part of a two-tier local government administration, Seoul Metropolitan Government is involved in policy-making for the entire metropolitan region. Seoul has been at the center of a remarkable boom in residential buildings, in which older houses have been replaced by newer ones that with increased density (Yoonseuk, 2012). The inner cities, specifically, have seen phenomenal renewal over the past twenty years, both in terms of pace and magnitude. Managing this growth across the entire metropolitan area has been one of the most challenging issues of planning for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, especially in light of the Jeonse system that is unique to South Korea and has resulted in unique challenges for Seoul. This paper will discuss the unique challenges facing Seoul, as well as how the Seoul Metropolitan Government has reacted to these challenges in way of housing policy. Finally, the paper will present an evaluation of these policies with regards to their success. The low interest rates and the lengthy slump in the housing markets In South Korea as a result of the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis threatened the very future of the jeonse system, which is a unique and long-standing home-lease system that stretched back to the 19th century. These jeonse contracts have been a mainstay in Seoul since it was founded over a century ago. In this system, the tenant, rather than paying rent monthly, pays the landlord a lump sum, up-front deposit that is normally ~40% of the houses value (Yoo, 2014). After a lease period of two years, the landlord can either renew the lease or refund it in its