Emergency Support Budget of 2.145 Billion Won in 2021... Expansion of Eligibility Criteria... Exploring Various Methods with Residents to Identify Welfare Blind Spots Deepened by COVID-19
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) is making every effort to provide emergency welfare support and identify welfare blind spots to care for vulnerable groups facing difficulties due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation.
This year, the district secured the largest emergency support budget (approximately 2.145 billion KRW) among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts, easing criteria to actively provide emergency support for residents struggling with their livelihoods due to COVID-19.
Along with this, active promotion of the eased criteria is underway to ensure no households in need of emergency support are overlooked.
Additionally, various methods are being utilized to find and support hidden vulnerable groups and residents in welfare blind spots who have experienced job loss or business closures due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.
First, among recipients of housing benefits and the near-poor, those with information on arrears in utility bills such as electricity, gas, and water, health insurance premiums, financial delinquencies, national pension arrears, or those who have received unemployment benefits are selected. Their income, assets, and welfare needs are comprehensively assessed and consulted to provide welfare services.
For more systematic and efficient identification and support of welfare recipients, various resident networks operating by neighborhood are also integrated. Neighbors who have discovered neighbors in difficulty in daily life, such as neighborhood keepers, sharing stores, and citizen finders, act as honorary social welfare officers to identify and report welfare recipients. Neighbors who have continuously checked on others’ well-being, such as neighborhood watchers and sharing neighbors, are integrated as neighborhood watchers to provide consistent support and monitoring.
The district plans to provide education on social welfare services such as emergency welfare and Care SOS projects so that honorary social welfare officers and neighborhood watchers can effectively perform their roles as welfare helpers when discovering households in crisis.
To closely manage newly identified vulnerable groups and existing welfare recipients, the welfare blind spot identification survey, including in-depth counseling, will be expanded from six times a year to ten times this year.
Last year, through visiting community center welfare planners, neighborhood hope welfare committees, honorary social welfare officers, and neighborhood watchers, the district actively identified residents in welfare blind spots, resulting in emergency support payments totaling 3.55316 billion KRW to 8,501 households. Additionally, 1,372 households receiving basic living benefits and 68 households under the Seoul-type basic living security were linked to support.
Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu, stated, “It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to identify residents in welfare blind spots and provide timely support to resolve crisis situations.” He added, “We will continue to do our best to create a Dongdaemun-gu without welfare blind spots together with our residents.”
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