Songpa-gu Mayor Park Seong-su, Why Is He Providing Customized Support of 32.4 Billion Won to 70,000 Single-Person Households?

Comprehensive Plan for Supporting Single-Person Households Established with 40 Projects in 5 Areas...Nation's First 'Single-Person Household One-Stop Counseling Call Center' for Integrated Consultation and Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa District, has recently drawn attention for receiving positive evaluations by preparing a comprehensive plan to support the rapidly increasing single-person households and promoting customized measures worth a total of 32.4 billion KRW.

According to the 2019 Population Census conducted by Statistics Korea, the number of single-person households in Songpa District is 68,861, accounting for 27.3% of all households in the area.

This is the third largest number among the autonomous districts of Seoul. Due to social structural changes and the characteristics of urban areas with many commercial zones and multi-family housing areas, the proportion of single-person households is expected to continue increasing.

Looking at the distribution of single-person households in the district by age group, the largest group is young people aged 30 or younger (33,561 individuals), and by gender, females (37,824) outnumber males (31,035). In particular, single-person female households aged 30 or younger are the most numerous.

Accordingly, Mayor Park judged that proactive policy support for single-person households is necessary and established the 'Comprehensive Plan for Supporting Single-Person Households,' promoting a total of 40 detailed projects across five major areas.

With the policy goal of ‘Creating a Happy Tomorrow Together in Songpa,’ the plan subdivides into areas such as ▲establishing institutional foundations ▲Warm Songpa (welfare and care) ▲Vibrant Songpa (education, daily life, housing) ▲Safe Songpa (building safety nets) ▲Special projects by neighborhood, implementing 40 projects in total.

First, to promote support more systematically, the district will establish various institutional foundations. ▲A ‘Special Task Force (TF) for Supporting Single-Person Households’ will be formed centered on 20 departments and neighborhoods ▲A ‘Single-Person Household Ordinance’ will be enacted in the second half of this year to provide a legal basis for support.

Additionally, ▲The ‘Songpa District Single-Person Household Support Center’ will operate to provide counseling, program management, and support for self-help groups ▲A ‘Single-Person Household Policy Advisory Group’ will be formed to offer expert advice on support policies, discover new projects, and conduct monitoring.

Notably, Songpa District’s unique support project for single-person households is the nation’s first ‘One-Stop Counseling Call Center for Single-Person Household Support.’

This integrated counseling window guides all single-person household support projects in Songpa District, enabling customized support counseling by age and social class with just one phone call. The call center will undergo a six-month pilot operation starting this August and is scheduled for official operation next year.

Furthermore, a ‘Single-Person Household Support Project Idea Contest’ will be held to discover innovative ideas and actively reflect them in policies. A comprehensive guide leaflet covering various support projects will also be produced and distributed to single-person household residents registering their move-in, facilitating one-stop guidance and counseling.

Park Seong-su, Mayor of Songpa District, stated, “We will proactively respond to the social change of ‘increasing single-person households’ and lead with preemptive administration,” adding, “We will listen carefully to the voices of single-person households and continuously discover and implement more practical and everyday necessary policies.”

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