Seoul City-Korea Railroad, Seoul Station Homeless Job Creation MOU Agreement

On the 7th, Korea Railroad signed a homeless self-support project business agreement at Seoul Station reception room
Korea Railroad to select and operate 40 people including 18 homeless at Seoul Station for 6 months from May
Seoul City to provide temporary housing for participants for 6 months and manage self-support cases through Dasi-seogi Comprehensive Support Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 7th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will sign a business agreement with Korea Railroad and the Dasi Seogi Comprehensive Support Center at the 3rd-floor reception room of Seoul Station to support the self-sufficiency of homeless people on the streets. The signing ceremony will be attended by Lee Hae-woo, Seoul City Welfare Planning Officer, Lee Doo-hee, Station Manager of Korea Railroad Seoul Station, and Heo Yong-gu, Director of the Dasi Seogi Comprehensive Support Center, among other officials.

Since 2012, Seoul City has been promoting a self-sufficiency project for homeless people on the streets in cooperation with Korea Railroad. Centered around homeless people near major railroad stations such as Seoul Station, the "Friends of Hope" project group has provided 6-month jobs and temporary housing to 20 to 40 homeless people annually for nine years.

Until 2017, the "Friends of Hope" project, which selected about 20 homeless people around Seoul Station to clean the station plaza and provided counseling and educational support for self-sufficiency, has gradually expanded its target areas over the past three years. Since 2018, the project has been promoted in three areas in Seoul, including Cheongnyangni Station (5 to 8 people per batch) in 2018 and Yeongdeungpo Station (14 to 15 people per batch) in 2019.

This year, starting from May, 18 homeless people around Seoul Station and 40 homeless people around Yeongdeungpo Station and Cheongnyangni Station will be selected to participate in jobs provided by Korea Railroad for six months after completing required safety training and other education. Working conditions include 60 hours per month (3 hours per day, 20 days), with monthly wages of about 770,000 KRW, including parking, monthly leave allowance, and meal expenses. Seoul City will provide selected "Friends of Hope" participants with temporary housing services (monthly rent) of about 270,000 KRW per month for six months.

Additionally, for homeless participants at Seoul Station, the Dasi Seogi Comprehensive Support Center selects candidates and provides education and counseling on housing, work, safety, and basic knowledge. Furthermore, to prevent infectious diseases caused by the COVID-19 virus, the center checks for COVID-19 suspected symptoms such as fever and respiratory symptoms daily for participants who come to work and distributes masks provided by Seoul City.

Lee Hae-woo, Seoul City Welfare Planning Officer, said, “We thank Korea Railroad for providing an opportunity to improve the railroad station environment from the perspective of supporting the self-sufficiency of nearby homeless people,” and emphasized, “Seoul City will continue to cooperate with related organizations such as Korea Railroad and the Dasi Seogi Comprehensive Support Center to support the self-sufficiency and community reintegration of homeless people around railroad stations and do its best.”

Lee Doo-hee, Station Manager of Korea Railroad Seoul Station, said, “Since 2012, through the joint homeless self-sufficiency project with Seoul City and the Dasi Seogi Comprehensive Support Center, we have shown that homeless people can play a sufficient role in improving the environment around stations and enhancing citizen convenience if given opportunities,” and added, “We will continue to actively cooperate with Seoul City’s homeless self-sufficiency project to help homeless people around stations reintegrate into the community.”

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