The city of Busan had planned to build two thousand units of Happy Houses, public rental housing, on a popular and expensive site across City Hall for college students, newlyweds and young people entering the workforce. Unfortunately, that plan was halved. According to the city, the change was a remedy for damages due to an oversupply of rental housing and a way to avoid problems of traffic congestion and parking.

The project had attracted nationwide attention as a successful model of the Happy House, but now that it has been stigmatized as a NIMBY facility raising concerns of falling housing prices, it may affect future Happy House projects.

According to the city of Busan on August 18, the city has changed direction and will reduce the number of Happy House units and floors and increase common facilities for residents. Originally, the city had planned to build 692 Happy House units in the first compound, but the modified plan reduced the number to 69 units. However, the city will maintain the 1,108 units in the second apartment compound. Thus the number of Happy House units has fallen from two thousand when the plan was first released to 1,800 units when the project was approved in 2017, and once again to 1,196 units.

This Happy House project drew great attention for it was the largest project in the nation, specially customized for newlyweds, and involved the design and construction of major construction companies. However, local residents and the Yeonje-gu Council, which has jurisdiction, raised concerns of damages due to an excessive supply of rental housing, traffic congestion, and parking issues, and continued to demand common facilities for local residents. Ultimately, the city reconsidered the project.

Local civic groups claim that the real reason for the complaints was concerns that the prices of neighboring homes would drop and concerns of people who owned the countless small studio buildings near Busan City Hall that the monthly rent would fall due to the construction of a massive rental housing compound.

When the city reduced the project, the construction of which was launched last year, young people and civic groups protested arguing that policies for young people had retreated to levels behind the days of the sixth mayor elected by the people, Suh Byung-soo in the days of the Park Geun-hye government. Local politicians also attacked the move. Bae Yong-jun, a city councilor said, "Most of all, it was wrong to adjust the plan when they didn't even have a clear cause to change the original plan."

But the city stressed, "It was an inevitable choice to ensure the quality of the citizens' lives against problems expected from an abnormal overcrowding development of the city center." The Happy House project across from City Hall is a large-scale high-rise construction project, and according to the city, if apartment compounds of over 15,000 apartments are built within a 1-km radius of the project site, damages from overcrowding is expected near City Hall.

A Busan city official explained, "We will further expand the housing policy for young people by increasing the number of Happy Houses to 10,000 households by 2022 and by promoting the pilot social housing for young people to 310 units," and added, "Accusations that we are ignoring the issue of housing for young people is outrageous." He further said, "We will actively promote customized housing projects for young people and newlyweds, such as social housing for young people, Dream Apartment for Young People in commercial areas near subway stations, and the purchase and lease on lump-sum deposit housing, as well as the Happy House."

Currently, Busan is promoting the construction of 5,806 Happy House units in fifteen locations and have begun the construction of 2,405 units in six locations.

However, the city failed to overcome the opposition to public rental housing among local residents, and experts continue to argue that if the Happy Houses are built in locations that fail to meet the demand of young people, the effectiveness could greatly decrease.

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