Removing 'Door Thresholds' for People with Disabilities (Comprehensive)

Seoul City Launches Customized Home Repair Project for Households with Severe Disabilities

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] K (57), a person with a first-degree physical disability, found it difficult to use a wheelchair not only outside the home but also inside. High door thresholds and narrow door widths blocked the wheelchair. Then, K learned about Seoul City's home repair support project. Thanks to this, the door thresholds were removed and the door widths were expanded. Additionally, sliding doors were installed, and wallpaper and flooring were replaced, allowing comfortable wheelchair use inside the home.

Seoul City announced on the 28th that it will promote a customized home repair project for households with severely disabled persons. The core of this project is to remodel bathrooms, bedrooms, entrances, kitchens, access routes, and living rooms in homes where severely disabled persons live, to resolve inconveniences caused by housing structures designed for non-disabled people. A Seoul City official emphasized, "The home repair project shows a high satisfaction rate of 96.5%."

The home repair target is, in principle, households receiving basic living subsidies or low-income disabled households (with a median income below 50%) where the head of household or a household member is a person with a severe disability, living in either owner-occupied or rental housing. Starting this year, households with a median income between 50% and 60% will also be newly included as eligible for support, with a 30% self-payment condition for remodeling costs, expanding the project.

Disabled households wishing to apply for home repairs can apply at their local community service center by the 28th of next month. After on-site inspections and other evaluations, construction companies will carry out the work. Jinwoo Jeong, Director of Welfare Planning at Seoul City, said, "We hope many low-income severely disabled households will participate in Seoul City's home repair project so that vulnerable severely disabled people no longer experience inconvenience in their residential life. We will continue to expand and implement the home repair project."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.