Songpa-gu Discovers At-Risk Households via 'Registered Mail'

Songpa-gu Sends 'Welfare Registered Mail' Monthly to At-Risk Households via Songpa Post Office
Delivery Workers Observe and Interview to Identify Crisis Signs and Connect with District Office
Pilot Project Last Year Identified 140 Households, Provided Customized Support to 6 After Visits and Counseling

# Last winter, Mr. Lee, a delivery worker at Songpa Post Office, learned that a household in Jangji-dong was a mother-and-child family facing financial difficulties while delivering registered mail and talking with them. Mr. Lee reported this to Songpa District Office, which immediately linked with the Korean Red Cross Hope Windmill project to provide emergency support such as rice and side dishes.

Songpa District Office (District Mayor Seo Gang-seok) will officially launch the ‘Welfare Registered Mail Service’ this year to proactively identify vulnerable households like this.

The ‘Welfare Registered Mail Service’ is a project that delivers registered mail containing welfare information to households suspected of being in crisis, monitors signs of crisis, and provides necessary welfare services.

The district sends ‘welfare registered’ mail once a month to households suspected of being in crisis, identified through the welfare blind spot detection system. Songpa Post Office delivery workers check the living conditions and housing environment of these households while delivering the mail.

Specifically, if the delivery worker meets the recipient, they directly ask questions to confirm economic difficulties and meal status. If the recipient is absent, the worker inspects for utility bill reminders, accumulation of empty alcohol bottles, odors, etc., and records these on a checklist, which is then sent via email to the district office or the local community center’s welfare officer.

Based on the inspection results, welfare officers provide customized welfare services necessary to overcome the crisis after consultation.

The ‘welfare registered’ mail contains various welfare information, including a self-diagnosis checklist for welfare blind spots, welfare system guides, promotional materials for Songpa District’s welfare reporting channel ‘Songpa Hope Talk,’ and contact information for local welfare institutions.

The district expects that delivery workers, who meet residents directly, will greatly help identify potential welfare blind spots by observing signs of crisis both directly and indirectly.

In fact, through a pilot project last December, basic living benefits and health treatment support were linked to a 79-year-old single elderly person who moved to Guryeong Village in Gangnam District. In addition, welfare registered mail was sent to about 300 households, signs of crisis were found in 140 households, and after home visits and consultations by social welfare officers at local community centers, customized services such as national basic livelihood support were provided to six households.

The district plans to train 190 Songpa Post Office delivery workers in March on how to identify signs of crisis and will hold quarterly working meetings to continuously share progress.

Seo Gang-seok, Mayor of Songpa District, stated, “We will continue to strengthen cooperation with resident-contact institutions to build a dense welfare safety net and actively find households in crisis in blind spots to create an inclusive city Songpa without any exclusion.”