Goyang City to Establish Citizens' Welfare Foundation in 2025... "Passed Final Review by Gyeonggi Province"

The 7th Welfare Foundation Established by a Basic Local Government in Gyeonggi Province... Launch Expected in the Second Half of 2025
Development of Goyang City's Specialized Welfare Policies... Addressing Blind Spots Such as Aging Population and Family Breakdown
Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, "Providing Differentiated Welfare Services for a Population of 1.08 Million"

Goyang City Hall exterior.

The establishment of the ‘Goyang Citizen Welfare Foundation,’ Mayor Lee Dong-hwan of Goyang Special City’s top welfare pledge, is expected to be actively pursued.

Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 25th that on the 24th, it received notification from Gyeonggi Province that the establishment plan for the Goyang Citizen Welfare Foundation was approved with ‘consent for establishment’ as the final (second) review result by the ‘Gyeonggi Province Investment and Contribution Institution Operation Review Committee.’ As a result, the foundation is expected to launch as early as the second half of 2025.

Goyang City has been preparing for the foundation’s establishment for about two years since the second half of 2022. The organization is planned as a nonprofit foundation with three teams and a workforce of 23 people. The key hurdle was passing Gyeonggi Province’s establishment review, especially since the Ministry of the Interior and Safety strengthened the standards for establishing local investment and contribution institutions starting January 2023.

Accordingly, from November last year to July this year, the city conducted a feasibility study led by the Gyeonggi Research Institute for about eight months. Despite the tight schedule, the review concluded that the project’s feasibility is very high, and over 72% of citizens surveyed agreed on the necessity of the foundation’s establishment.

Based on this, the city formally requested the final (second) consultation with Gyeonggi Province in September, and on the 18th, the Operation Committee gave final consent for the establishment during its review meeting.

Having overcome this major hurdle, the city plans to swiftly proceed with the remaining administrative procedures. It will submit the ordinance proposal, contribution consent, and the first supplementary budget proposal to the Goyang City Council, and push forward with organizational setup, securing contributions, and obtaining nonprofit corporation establishment approval.

A city official anticipated that once the Goyang Citizen Welfare Foundation is established, a unified welfare organization will be in place, significantly upgrading welfare services for Goyang citizens.

The welfare foundation, as a nonprofit corporation, can respond more flexibly and broadly than public organizations amid changing environments such as government welfare policy expansion, family disintegration, and super-aging society. Accordingly, six cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province?Siheung, Pyeongtaek, Gimpo, Gapyeong, Namyangju, and Hwaseong?have recognized the need for welfare foundations and established them early, while other local governments such as Seongbuk-gu in Seoul and Ulju-gun in Ulsan are actively pursuing establishment as well.

The city official emphasized, “Goyang is the city with the largest number of welfare recipients in Gyeonggi Province and the largest special city in northern Gyeonggi with a continuously growing population. It has been over ten years since the population surpassed one million, making the establishment of a welfare foundation urgently necessary not only to reflect citizens’ welfare demands but also to improve satisfaction with welfare services.”

Upon establishment, the foundation will connect and manage all welfare facilities across Goyang City, including 838 facilities within the jurisdiction as of the end of September (according to the Social Security Statistics Information System).

As Goyang City holds a quasi-independent status as a special city, it plans to develop differentiated and specialized welfare policies distinct from the central government. Notably, the proportion of elderly population in Goyang exceeded 15% in 2022, entering an aged society. By 2030, it is expected to surpass 22%, approaching a super-aged society, prompting plans to expand elderly welfare policies accordingly.

Additionally, leveraging the advantage of being a private corporation, the foundation will actively identify citizens in welfare blind spots such as vulnerable groups, elderly living alone, and single-person households, and promote donations from corporations, individuals, and organizations to efficiently allocate welfare resources to marginalized neighbors.

Mayor Lee Dong-hwan of Goyang Special City stated, “The establishment of the foundation is an essential project to provide large and appropriate welfare services suitable for a city with a population of one million. Since the province has recognized the appropriateness of the welfare foundation project, we will actively cooperate with the city council and citizens to ensure the establishment proceeds quickly.”