Seoul City Provides Full Support for Emergency Disaster Relief Fund Application and Receipt Process for Street Homeless

Dedicated Counters Established at 3 Homeless Support Centers Including Seoul Station and Yeongdeungpo Station
Support for Reissuing Resident Registration Cards for Deregistered Residents Provided

A scene of consultation for applying and receiving government disaster relief funds at the Municipal Restart Comprehensive Support Center.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] It has been revealed that a significant number of street homeless people in Seoul have not applied for the emergency disaster relief fund, prompting the Seoul Metropolitan Government to provide full support from application to receipt.

On the 23rd, Seoul announced that it has set up dedicated consultation desks at three 'Comprehensive Support Centers for the Homeless' located in homeless-dense areas such as Seoul Station, Yongsan Station, Yeongdeungpo Station, and City Hall/Euljiro, to assist street homeless individuals with guidance on applying for the emergency disaster relief fund, filling out application forms, and submitting them to local community service centers.

According to a Seoul survey, as of the end of May, only 35.8% of street homeless people had applied for the government emergency disaster relief fund. This is significantly lower compared to the application rate of over 70% among homeless people residing in facilities and the nationwide rate of 99.5% of households that received the emergency disaster relief fund.

With the Ministry of the Interior and Safety extending the application period for the emergency disaster relief fund to August 19 and allowing 'residence unregistered persons'?those whose place of residence differs from their registered address?to apply at nearby community service centers, Seoul aims to provide focused support to ensure that street homeless people, who are often in blind spots, receive the benefits without omission.

Accordingly, the city will support the entire application process so that street homeless people are not excluded from receiving the emergency disaster relief fund, and will accompany them to community service centers if necessary. At the prepaid card receipt stage, if same-day receipt is difficult, the Comprehensive Support Centers will receive notifications from each community service center and directly inform the individuals to prevent situations where homeless people cannot be contacted due to lack of a mobile phone or other contact information.

Additionally, for street homeless people who cannot apply due to canceled resident registration or lack of a resident registration card (ID), support will be provided for taking ID photos and covering the reissuance fee (5,000 KRW) for the resident registration card.

Kim Seon-soon, Director of Welfare Policy at Seoul City, said, "The government emergency disaster relief fund is a system provided by the government and local governments to all citizens to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, but there is a blind spot where street homeless people cannot even apply due to various circumstances. Over the remaining month, Seoul will provide focused support for the entire process from application to receipt so that as many street homeless people as possible can apply and receive support, and will actively link this with homeless self-reliance support policies such as homeless employment and temporary housing support."

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