This study aims to identify vulnerable public rental housing types and spatial areas in Seoul where mismatches emerge between residents’ sociodemographic characteristics and the provision of daily life-oriented community facilities. In Korea, public...
This study aims to identify vulnerable public rental housing types and spatial areas in Seoul where mismatches emerge between residents’ sociodemographic characteristics and the provision of daily life-oriented community facilities. In Korea, public rental housing has been supplied in several policy-driven categories—Permanent Rental, National Rental, and Happiness Housing. Because eligibility criteria and resident composition differ across these categories, demand for neighborhood-scale community facilities is also expected to vary by housing type. However, existing provision mechanisms have not sufficiently reflected such demand characteristics, raising limitations in terms of equity in housing welfare and operational efficiency.
The study covers 211 public rental housing complexes (120,982 units) managed by LH and SH in Seoul as of May 2022. Methodologically, it applies the Enhanced Two-Step Floating Catchment Area (E2SFCA) model to compute facility-group-specific accessibility indices that incorporate supply–demand interactions and distance-decay effects. It further quantifies equity in accessibility distributions using Lorenz curves and Gini coefficients, and examines spatial clustering of accessibility vulnerability through Getis–Ord Gi* hotspot analysis.
The results reveal pronounced accessibility disparities by facility type and housing category. Childcare and education facilities (public daycare centers and public kindergartens) generally exhibited high accessibility and relatively even distributions. In contrast, healthcare facilities, senior leisure/welfare facilities, and public culture/sports facilities showed low average accessibility and substantial inter-complex inequality (high Gini coefficients). Comparisons with citywide conditions further indicated that public rental housing achieved accessibility levels comparable to or slightly above the Seoul-wide average for childcare, whereas accessibility indices for multiple facility groups—including public libraries, public culture/sports facilities, senior leisure/welfare facilities, and healthcare facilities—fell below the citywide average, confirming a relative disadvantage in neighborhood-scale community facility availability compared to the urban baseline. Notably, Permanent Rental housing, which had the highest share of older residents (48.9%), recorded the lowest accessibility to senior leisure/welfare facilities and public culture/sports facilities among the three housing types, suggesting the need for tailored facility placement strategies that explicitly incorporate residents’ sociodemographic profiles rather than relying solely on unit-based supply targets.
Finally, mismatches in community facility accessibility exhibited statistically significant spatial clustering. Getis–Ord Gi* analysis classified many complexes in northern and peripheral areas of Seoul—where public rental housing is concentrated (e.g., Dobong, Nowon, Jungnang, and Geumcheon)—as cold spots characterized by low accessibility. In particular, for senior leisure/welfare and healthcare facilities, the share of cold spots among public rental housing complexes was higher than the citywide average, indicating a spatial mismatch in which areas with vulnerable residents face lower service availability. Complementary case analyses of three representative complexes (Seocho–Umyun Jugong, Gwanaksan Huminsia Complex 3, and Junggye Mongnyeon Complex 3) further showed neighborhood-scale service gaps for selected facility groups, where accessibility indices were estimated as zero or the surrounding area was classified as a cold spot (p < 0.05), reinforcing that vulnerable clusters identified at the city scale can be linked to reduced service availability at the complex scale.
By integrating housing-type-specific demand characteristics with neighborhood-scale service availability, this study quantifies demand–supply mismatches and spatially pinpoints vulnerable areas, thereby complementing prior research focused primarily on locational attributes. The findings provide a spatial basis for prioritizing community facility placement and designing locally tailored housing welfare policies.