The Two Million Housing Drive in Korea

Abstract

Purpose Emerging states confront staggering shortages in adequate housing stock. In response, governments have sought various supply-based solutions to mitigate growing housing deficits. While many of these mass housing efforts have not produced the desired outcome, the Republic of Korea’s Two Million Housing Drive (TMHD) was a comparatively successful intervention with its implementation from 1988 to 1992. The five-year initiative exceeded its objective with the construction of over 2.1 million units – of which two-thirds were built by the private sector. The purpose of this study is to analyse Korea’s relatively effective supply-based affordable housing approach and then extrapolate best practices and lessons learned with applications for real estate markets in the developing world. Comparative understanding of the TMHD can help promote greater access to adequate housing in the developing world, especially for the many who continue to live in impoverished conditions. Design/methodology/approach The research uses content-based and quantitative methods to analyze the case of the TMHD in Korea toward informing improvements in corresponding supply-based housing policies and programs in developing states. Findings While there were challenges with the TMHD, the program repositioned Korea’s urban housing market with greater access to affordable housing in cities for the lower-income and vulnerable. The TMHD enabled the subsequent effectiveness of demand-based housing policies. Research limitations/implications There are research limitations in fully understanding the complex relationships between mass housing programs, economic growth and government policies. The abductive reasoning used in this case study enables in-depth analysis of the TMHD with generalizable inferences for middle-range theories with applications for emerging markets. Practical implications The experience of the TMHD can promote policy harmonization by helping optimize corresponding mass housing efforts in the developing world with the potential to similarly close quantitative housing deficits and expand access to adequate housing for lower-income and vulnerable households. Social implications Deeper understanding of the TMHD can lead to reforms of other mass housing initiatives in emerging markets to make adequate housing more accessible and economical for the benefit of underserved segments of society. Originality/value The Korean experience with the TMHD can inform the optimization of other similar large-scale policies and programs seeking to sustainably overcome shortfalls in adequate housing that have become all too common in the developing world.

Navigating the landscape of public–private partnership research: a novel review using latent Dirichlet allocation

“…Central to this discourse is the significance of housing. Feather (2019) showcases Korea's successful policy-private sector collaboration model, effectively tackling housing shortages in emerging nations. Beyond mere housing structures, Fraser and Kick (2014) accentuate the intricacies of urban restructuring in the US and underline the trade-offs between economic growth and the preservation of neighbourhoods with gentrification looming large.…”

An Examination of Private Real Estate Developers’ Perspectives on Effectiveness of Government Support to the Ghanaian Housing Industry

“…In accordance with the economic policy, the government shifted from direct state housing delivery to the creation of an enabling environment for private sector participation Afrane (2014) [5]. The objective of the enabling approach is to foster conditions conducive to the industry's delivery of affordable housing stock (Mayo and Angel, 1993 as cited in Feather, 2019) [7]. This period, however, saw the emergence of private real estate companies in the Ghanaian housing market (Bank of Ghana, 2007) [18].…”

“…Ghana is one of many developing countries with a growing housing deficit of more than one million units (GoG/MWRWH, 2012) [6]. Thus, the ever-growing shortages in many ways has constituted a socio-economic crisis where lower-income and vulnerable families are customarily forced to live in inadequate shelter, oftentimes in informal settlements (Gilbert, 2014 as cited in Feather, 2019) [7]. Meanwhile, the housing deficit continues to grow as a result of a lack of effective government policy to coordinate private real estate developers' efforts to provide affordable housing for low and middle-income earners (Afrane, 2014;Mahama and Antwi, 2006) [2]- [5].…”