Constructing Housing Management Toward Its Professionalization in Korea

The purpose of this study is to explore institutional frameworks to professionalize housing management in Korea. In particular, this research reviews the evolution of professional housing management and its institutional measures in a social constructionist perspective. The main method employed in the study is content analysis in which historical pathways in institutionalization of professional housing management are examined and a wide array of indices from secondary data are drawn out in relation to various actors. The findings show that a series of institutional measures were taken from 1970s to secure the professionalization of housing management ranging from introduction of housing management bylaws, placement of licensed housing managers, legal requirements of professionally managed housing estates, compulsory operation of long-term reserve funds, formation of residents' association, mandatory establishment of long-range maintenance planning, to standardization of multifamily housing management bylaws. Since the Multifamily Housing Management Ordinance of 1979 amended in 1980s, many institutional measures have been legally enforced and shaped contemporary practices of professional housing management such as an association for housing management companies, qualification of on-site housing management agents, national licensing examination for housing managers, an organization for licensed housing mangers, mandatory registration of housing management companies, disclosure of monthly housing management fees, and formalization of public assessment of housing management. In spite of the distinctive marks in the professionalization of housing management, more proactive and competitive approaches to the international professionalization need to be considered.