Goheung-gun's Full Effort to Save Households in the COVID-19 Crisis

Securing an Additional 400 Million Won in National Funds... Striving for Tailored Support for Selective Crisis Households

[Goheung=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Chunsu] Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do is making every effort to prepare support measures for households facing livelihood crises due to COVID-19.

According to Goheung-gun on the 26th, out of 2,568 applications for emergency livelihood support for COVID-19 crisis households received over 40 days since October 12, a total of 1.23 billion KRW in emergency livelihood funds will be provided to 2,295 households that meet the support criteria.

Initially, there were difficulties in supporting crisis households due to the national budget of about 830 million KRW. In response, Goheung-gun worked to secure an additional 400 million KRW in national funds, enabling smooth support solely with national funds.

The "Emergency Livelihood Support for Crisis Households" is a project that temporarily provides emergency livelihood funds to low-income households that do not benefit from existing welfare systems or COVID-19 damage support programs.

The number of emergency livelihood support applications in Goheung-gun far exceeded the average of 1,520 applications in county-level areas excluding cities in Jeollanam-do, and from the early stages of the project, a TF team was formed to establish a systematic operation plan.

Additional personnel were deployed for reception and consultation to prevent confusion on-site, and active promotional activities were conducted, including identifying target groups for focused publicity and sending application guidance text messages.

Also, the application deadline, originally October 30, was extended twice to prevent cases where applicants could not apply due to a short period. The support criteria were relaxed, and required documents simplified to lower the threshold and actively discover crisis households.

The first emergency livelihood support will be paid on the 30th to 2,288 crisis households.

The second payment is planned for households that applied after the 6th and those who were rescued through an objection process after receiving a notice of ineligibility, and preparations are being made with utmost effort.

Earlier, from April to June, Goheung-gun supported 19,000 households with a median income of 100% or less with about 6.1 billion KRW in "Jeonnam-type COVID-19 Emergency Living Expenses" to revitalize the local economy depressed by COVID-19.

Additionally, 5,000 basic livelihood security recipients and lower-income households in the area received 2.6 billion KRW in temporary living support funds for low-income groups, which was well received.

A county official said, "As the COVID-19 disaster situation prolongs, not only the economic difficulties of residents but all aspects of daily life are being affected. We will focus on devising practical measures to provide real help by carefully considering various ways to build a thorough and omission-free welfare administration."

Meanwhile, Goheung-gun plans to actively support those who do not meet the emergency livelihood support criteria and are excluded from the support target but are in crisis situations due to sudden unemployment, salary reduction, or serious illness, through deliberation by the Livelihood Security Committee or linkage with emergency welfare support.