Goyang Deokyang-gu, Closer to Vulnerable Groups... Expanding Welfare Safety Net

Free Legal Home Doctor and Outreach Welfare Counseling for Vulnerable Groups
Winter Protection Measures for Homeless and Attachment Doll Support for Elderly Living Alone
"Warm Concern for Neighbors is the Shortcut to Preventing Welfare Blind Spots"

Deogyang-gu, Goyang Special City, Gyeonggi Province (District Mayor Han Chan-hee) plans to expand the welfare safety net for low-income vulnerable groups and realize robust citizen welfare through early detection of households in crisis around daily life.

Legal Home Doctor Legal Education. Provided by Goyang Special City

In November, Deogyang-gu in Goyang City was re-designated for the Legal Home Doctor Village Lawyer service as a specialized project. The Legal Home Doctor is a project where lawyers affiliated with the Ministry of Justice reside at the district office and provide free legal consultation services to socially and economically vulnerable groups such as basic livelihood security recipients and crime victims.

The Legal Home Doctor project has been ongoing for eight consecutive years since its launch in February 2017, offering services covering all aspects of everyday legal matters, including free legal consultations and advice, legal education, excluding litigation work. Last year, the free legal service conducted 607 legal consultations, 168 referrals for assistance, and 96 document preparations related to litigation.

In addition, Deogyang-gu operates year-round visiting welfare counseling centers, campaigns, and neighbor care welfare field education to proactively identify households in crisis and eliminate welfare blind spots.

This year, welfare counseling centers and campaigns were conducted mainly at lifestyle-oriented business sites and places with high foot traffic. At Samsong Technovalley, which has many resident companies, they promoted welfare blind spots and customized support for households in crisis, and provided welfare counseling for employees of resident companies.

Making Attachment Dolls Event. Provided by Goyang Special City

They also conducted promotional campaigns at Hwajeong Park, Wondang Market, and Neunggok Market, traditional markets with high foot traffic, and provided neighbor care welfare field education to the Goyang Women's Human Resources Development Center Employment Support Team, local community security councils, and Red Cross volunteer societies.

Deogyang-gu is implementing intensive protection measures to prevent deaths of homeless people and seasonal diseases caused by the cold wave during the winter season. Among the homeless on the streets are elderly people, disabled persons, and alcoholics, who are exposed to the cold wave without protection, increasing the risk of safety accidents. When sudden temperature changes such as cold wave advisories and warnings occur, the risk of casualties among the homeless can increase.

Deogyang-gu designated the period from December this year to February next year as the intensive management period for the homeless and strengthened the community safety net to prevent casualties caused by the cold wave.

They established a medical support system for preventing deaths of homeless people and rapid on-site response, and operate patrol teams to detect emergencies early and prevent casualties in advance. They will frequently patrol major patrol areas in the district and provide relief supplies such as heating equipment during winter.

Operation of Welfare Counseling Center. Provided by Goyang Special City

In addition, in November, they held the “Making Attachment Dolls with Love Stitch by Stitch” event to prevent depression among elderly people living alone. This event was organized by the Deogyang-gu Tongjang Association, which came together to make attachment dolls and deliver them to elderly households living alone. Attachment dolls serve as a link to form a network with elderly people living alone and help prevent depression among the elderly.

At the event, about 135 Tongjangs from 21 neighborhoods in Deogyang-gu participated in making attachment dolls, sewing together and making dolls by hand. Village Tongjangs are expected to play a bridging role by delivering attachment dolls to elderly households living alone and providing warm comfort and hope.

Deogyang-gu conducted application and verification surveys to manage the eligibility and appropriateness of benefits for welfare recipients to build a systematic and robust welfare safety net.

The new application survey targets 18,818 households receiving welfare benefits such as basic livelihood security and basic pension, and the survey is conducted by linking a total of 84 types of income, property, personal information, and public financial asset data through the next-generation social security information system.

In the first and second half-year verification surveys and monthly verification surveys, changes are checked and the latest data applied for 13 welfare target projects and 13,924 households whose public data of supporters have changed. In particular, when there are changes in income or property such as earned income and public pensions, recipients are guided in advance to fulfill their reporting obligations and prevent unintended damage, and recovery actions are taken against recipients who fail to report.

Integrated Investigator Management Workshop. Provided by Goyang Special City

For those subject to benefit suspension or reduction, multi-faceted support such as home visit fact-finding investigations, deliberations by the local livelihood security committee, special application, and linkage with other benefits are provided to minimize the occurrence of welfare blind spots.

In June and September, a 2024 work seminar was held to support the capacity and professionalism of social security benefit integrated survey and management personnel. Going forward, welfare benefits will be surveyed and managed so that beneficiaries can receive services suitable for their individual circumstances.

Han Chan-hee, Mayor of Deogyang-gu, said, “Warm interest in neighbors living together is the shortcut to preventing welfare blind spots, and the colder the winter, the more we need to take time to look after our neighbors.” He added, “We will provide customized welfare services for vulnerable groups through free legal consultations for low-income groups and visiting welfare counseling, and work closely with local residents such as village Tongjangs who can carefully observe the local situation to eliminate welfare blind spots.”