"What if, instead of giving people a home once they have a child, we first gave them a home that makes them willing to have one?"
That question reversed the usual order of birth incentives when the Seoul city government introduced Mirinae Home, a long-term jeonse housing program for newlyweds, in 2024. The program offers stable housing first to engaged couples and newlyweds without children, then adds long-term residency and a path to homeownership if they have a child. Seoul Housing & Urban Development Corporation (SH) serves as the main vehicle for turning that idea into actual supply, drawing on long-term jeonse units and purchased homes secured through redevelopment and rebuilding projects.
Mirinae Home traces its roots to SHift, the long-term jeonse program launched by the city and SH in 2007. That program widened the pool for public rental housing, then centered on low-income households, to include middle-income households that do not own a home. Seventeen years later, Mirinae Home is a redesign of that model aimed at the falling birth rate. Recently the program has expanded into more sought-after locations, and unit sizes have grown, giving applicants more options. The plan is to move beyond small units and offer newly built complexes in the Gangnam area and mid- to large-sized homes as well, creating public housing that middle-income households actively prefer rather than merely settle for.
Newlyweds have responded strongly. The first offering, 300 units at Olympic Park Foreon, drew 17,929 applications, an average of 60 to one. Supply later expanded to new Gangnam complexes in Jamsil and Cheongdam. Cumulative supply through August of this year stood at 7,108 units. In a survey of residents conducted by the city in January, 79 of the 216 households that responded, or 36.6%, had a child after moving in, and 84.7% said they planned to have one.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon touched on the same shift when he visited Mirinae Home units at Jamsil Le-El early this month. "In the past there was a strong perception that public rental housing was strictly for low-income households," he said. "I think that philosophy is gradually changing now." High housing costs constrain marriage and childbirth not only for low-income households but also for middle-income households that do not own a home, he suggested, and the role of public housing should reflect that changed reality.
Mirinae Home opens the door wider to middle-income households than existing public rentals, starting with its income ceiling. For units larger than 60 square meters, dual-income households can apply with earnings of up to 200% of the average monthly income of urban workers. For a dual-income household of three, that covers monthly income of up to about 16.34 million won. In the same vein, the program is widening its range of unit types and adding mid- to large-sized floor plans, on the reasoning that families need more space as they have more children.
That shift is also visible in what SH will offer through the end of the year. The eighth round of apartment-type Mirinae Home units, which opened for applications on the 7th, covers 496 units across 58 complexes in Seoul, including sought-after new Gangnam developments such as DH Bangbae, Hauterre Banpo, Cheongdam Le-El and Raemian Leventus. In December, a ninth apartment-type round and a second general-housing round will follow, while the existing long-term jeonse program offers 1,381 units this month and a 52nd round in December. Purchased rentals for young adults and newlyweds, Happy Housing and integrated public rentals will also be offered in stages through year-end.
Still, the wider the program reaches into middle-income households and prime locations, the sharper the debate over what public housing is for. The deposit on a 59-square-meter Mirinae Home unit at Jamsil Le-El is 842 million won, and 1.17 billion won at Cheongdam Le-El. That has fed a dispute over "high-priced public rentals," and whether it is appropriate to supply public housing to newlyweds who can put together deposits in the hundreds of millions of won.
The city's view is that public housing should in fact cover that demand as well. "There is also value in easing the housing cost burden on middle-income households and giving them some breathing room," Oh said. To address the high initial deposits, SH and the city have introduced installment payments and are asking the central government to ease jeonse loan criteria for newlyweds. Of the 533 households that signed Mirinae Home contracts between April and August this year, 92% used the installment option, cutting their initial payments by a combined 76.5 billion won. The city plans to secure about 4,000 Mirinae Home units a year and supply an additional 17,500 by 2030. It has asked the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to raise the share of long-term jeonse housing that can be used for Mirinae Home from a maximum of 50% to 70%, and intends to secure a set volume from new housing sites now under discussion with the central government.
Existing public rental supply will continue alongside Mirinae Home. The result is a two-track approach: widening public housing to newlyweds and middle-income households while maintaining the existing safety net for young adults and low-income households that do not own a home. Beginning with 1,381 units in the 51st long-term jeonse round this month, purchased rentals for newlyweds and families with newborns will follow in the second half, and December brings a lineup that includes the 52nd long-term jeonse round, purchased rentals for young adults, Happy Housing, integrated public rentals and public rentals under the Youth Safe Housing program.
