[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City has decided to proactively provide heating cost support to the near-poverty class following special heating cost support for basic livelihood security recipients and welfare facilities.
The city announced on the 2nd that it will spend 4 billion KRW to provide 100,000 KRW each in heating cost support to about 40,000 households in the near-poverty class. This support is independently provided by the city, separate from the government's energy voucher support for the near-poverty class.
The heating cost support for the near-poverty class will be paid in cash during February without a separate application process.
Earlier, on the 27th of last month, the city decided to provide special heating cost support of 100,000 KRW each to all households receiving basic livelihood security and Didimdol stable income, and 600,000 to 1,000,000 KRW each to welfare facilities supported by city funds (including senior centers). The initially announced support scale was 12.2 billion KRW, but after recalculating the support targets, it increased to 13.3 billion KRW.
However, since heating costs were not supported for the near-poverty class, and there were calls for support for this potential poverty group, the city decided to use disaster relief funds to provide heating cost support to the entire near-poverty class.
Accordingly, the total financial scale of support provided by Incheon City to vulnerable groups suffering from heating cost increases has risen to 17.3 billion KRW.
Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said, "Due to consecutive cold waves and rising heating costs, the near-poverty class is also facing increased difficulties in daily life, so we decided to provide additional support."
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