Incheon City Allocates 1.2 Trillion Won for Elderly Sector Budget... Municipal Nursing Home to Open Next Year

Expansion of Income Support and Care for Vulnerable Groups with Hyodream Welfare Card and Safety Phone
92% of Elderly Beneficiaries in Incheon Receive Maximum Basic Pension Amount
First Implementation of Funeral Services for Unclaimed and Low-Income Deceased

Incheon Mayor Park Nam-chun is taking a commemorative photo after awarding exemplary senior citizens and workers at the '2019 Senior Job Performance Agency Integrated Evaluation Meeting.' December 2, 2019.
[Photo by Incheon City]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City will invest approximately 1.2 trillion won this year in the senior citizen sector to strengthen income support and care services for vulnerable groups. Additionally, the city plans to open a municipal nursing home next year and launch new projects such as supporting quarantine costs for senior centers and providing funeral support for unclaimed deceased and low-income groups.

According to the city on the 26th, aiming for "Incheon, an aging society where the quality of life improves for all generations," it will implement 137 projects across six policy tasks with a budget of 1.2461 trillion won, an 11.5% increase from last year.

First, with a budget of 155.1 billion won, the city will expand various senior job and social activity support projects targeting a total of 43,366 people, an increase of 2,276 from last year. Through non-face-to-face projects such as the Health Partner program and Senior Safety Monitoring, the city actively responds to the COVID-19 situation and also discovers and promotes new projects like recycling resource managers and food market delivery workers.

To ensure stable and continuous income for the elderly, the city promotes various job information using the "Incheon Senior Job Information System (QR Code)," which was established nationwide for the first time last year, and collaborates with private companies and public institutions to expand private-sector jobs.

The city also provides the "Hyodream Welfare Card," an annual 80,000 won benefit, to basic livelihood security recipients and near-poverty groups aged 75 and older. This year, about 33,000 people are expected to benefit, which is approximately 1,000 more than last year.

Starting this year, the eligibility for the maximum basic pension payment of 300,000 won for single-person households has expanded from the bottom 40% income bracket to the bottom 70%, resulting in 92% of pension recipients in Incheon receiving the maximum amount. As of January this year, 293,964 elderly people in the region receive the basic pension, accounting for 71.4% of the total elderly population of 411,483.

The city will also invest 300 million won this year to create themed community spaces in 10 district and county senior centers, providing places for local residents to communicate. To actively respond to the COVID-19 situation, quarantine expenses will be supported for 879 senior centers.

For elderly people at risk of malnutrition, the meal unit price has been increased from 2,700 won to 4,000 won, and 14 nutritionists and cooks will be supported at free meal facilities serving more than 100 users.

Furthermore, as a specialized Incheon-type project, among 13,528 elderly care recipients, 8,600 who require regular check-ins will be provided with safety phones capable of two-way video calls and temperature, humidity, and motion detection, establishing a real-time care system.

Dementia Safety Brain Health School
[Photo by Incheon City]

The city is also investing 10.3 billion won to build a municipal nursing home scheduled to open in the second half of next year. The municipal nursing home, located in Dorim-dong, Namdong-gu, will be a three-story building with a total floor area of 2,714 square meters and accommodate 115 residents.

A municipal dementia-specialized elderly nursing facility will be constructed in Galhyeon-dong, Gyeyang-gu in 2023, and small-scale comprehensive elderly nursing facilities are planned for Bukdo, Yeonpyeong, and Jawoldo in Ongjin County (completion next year), as well as Daecheong and Deokjeok Islands (completion in 2022).

Additionally, funeral services for unclaimed deceased and low-income deceased, whose families have abandoned body retrieval due to family breakdown or financial difficulties, will be implemented for the first time this year.

The elderly population aged 65 and older in Incheon was 411,483 as of last year, accounting for 14% of the total population of Incheon. It is expected to enter a super-aged society exceeding 20% by 2027.

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