Two in three Seoul residents oppose building public housing on the Yongsan Park site, a new survey shows. Strong opposition — those who said they were "strongly opposed" — accounted for nearly half of all respondents, at 46.7 percent.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government surveyed 1,000 Seoul residents aged 18 and older on public awareness of the plan to supply public housing using the Yongsan Park site. Opposition came in at 63.9 percent, roughly double the 32.0 percent who said they were in favor. Another 4.1 percent said they did not know or declined to answer.
Breaking down the responses, 46.7 percent said they were "strongly opposed" and 17.2 percent "generally opposed," while 16.7 percent were "strongly in favor" and 15.3 percent "generally in favor." Opposition outweighed support across all demographic groups — by gender, age and residential district. Every age group and all five of Seoul's administrative zones recorded opposition rates above 60 percent.
Among those opposed, the most commonly cited reason was that building housing on the site amounted to a shortsighted policy that would damage a park meant for future generations in order to ease a short-term housing shortage. Doubts about the policy's effectiveness as a housing measure and concerns about urban infrastructure followed closely. Some 42.3 percent of opponents said the lengthy process of returning the US military base and cleaning up soil contamination made it unrealistic to expect a quick housing supply boost, while 41.9 percent said the development could place a heavy burden on infrastructure such as roads and water and sewage systems.
Those in favor most often cited the potential to improve housing stability for people who do not own homes. In a multiple-response question, 69.3 percent of supporters selected that reason. That was followed by the view that supplying public housing instead of allowing private development would enhance the public character of the site, at 56.1 percent, and the argument that the project would make good use of a prime location in central Seoul, at 44.3 percent.
The survey also found that 90.3 percent of respondents were aware of Yongsan Park, and 75.3 percent said they knew about a provision in the Special Act on Yongsan Park Development that prohibits residential construction and commercial development within the park.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to use the survey results as baseline data reflecting public opinion in its ongoing consultations with the central government over the direction of the Yongsan Park project and the city's broader housing supply policy.
"This survey confirmed broad public support for preserving the public value of Yongsan Park, separate from the question of whether more housing supply is needed," said Ahn Dae-hee, the city's director of future space planning.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government commissioned the survey and KStat Research conducted it from Thursday through Sunday, covering 1,000 Seoul residents aged 18 and older via landline and mobile phone interviews — 20 percent landline and 80 percent mobile. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level, and the response rate was 10.2 percent.
ikson@heraldcorp.com
