Expansion, Diversification and Hybridization in Korean Public Housing

While in European socletles the residualization of social housing sectors and the transformation of social providers into more market-orientated or socially entrepreneurial entities have been characteristic (Cowans & Maclennan, 2008; Priemus & Dieleman, 2002; Rhodes & Mullins, 2009), South Korea has followed a particular path in which public forms of social housing have been diversified and extended to serve greater numbers and types of households (Ronald & Lee, 2012). This paper considers recent institution al transformations in the Korean social housing sector. A permanent public rental housing sector has been developed since 1989 serving the needs of very low-income households (Ha, 2004; Lee & Hong, 2007; Lim, 2005; Park, 2007), although, more recently, more diverse categories of public housing have been produced for low-and middle-income households. Different sectors have demanded distinctive approaches to provision and management, and while permanent public rental housing has become more embedded in social partnerships with local government and civil sector agencies, and focused on serving residents' needs, public housing support for middle-income households has needed to reconcile the need for affordable housing with commercial practices and market contexts