PPP chief visits new town site, calls government's housing loan reversal 'mass fraud against public'

People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyeok on Thursday criticized the government's decision to roll back loan support tied to a public housing program, calling it "in effect mass fraud against the public carried out by the administration."

Jang held a meeting with prospective residents who had applied under the New Home pre-sale program at the Changneung new town construction site in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, alongside the party's special committee on real estate policy normalization, to hear firsthand about the difficulties caused by the policy shift.

New Home is a public pre-sale housing program. With full subscription applications now approaching, prospective move-in residents have pushed back after the preferential interest rates and other loan support promised in the original pre-sale notices were withdrawn.

Jang, who chairs the special committee, said trust is the foundation of public housing. "Innocent citizens should not suffer just because the administration has changed," he said.

He added that those present had waited in good faith on the government's promise to help them own a home, only to see everything upended when the Lee Jae Myung administration took office. "It unilaterally changed the mortgage conditions by tightening loan regulations," he said.

Jang said the Lee Jae Myung administration has no interest in people's lives or young people's futures. "Naturally, its real estate policy does not put citizens at the center — which is why it is flipping the New Home policy as if turning over a hand," he said.

He called on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Office for Government Policy Coordination to provide clear answers on what they are reviewing, how they are doing so, and by when they will reach a conclusion.

Jang said the People Power Party would look after applicants closely to ensure they are not harmed by the changed conditions. "We must supply enough housing so that genuine buyers can purchase the homes they need, and lay a stable financial ladder for homeownership," he said.

Before the meeting, the special committee received a briefing on project progress from Korea Land and Housing Corporation officials and called on them to draw up measures to support those affected by the pre-sale program.

Jang said the biggest concerns were loan interest rates and repayment terms. "Pre-sale applicants cannot keep enduring this unstable situation," he said.

He also noted that roughly 30 percent of winners had canceled their subscriptions after being selected. "If 30 percent have already given up, that means people have already been defrauded and suffered losses," he said, urging the government to reach a conclusion without delay.