Suncheon-si Strives to Stabilize Low-Income Lives by Abolishing Livelihood Benefit Support Obligation Criteria

Strengthening Promotion to Address Extreme Poverty Issues Among Elderly Households and Others

[Suncheon=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Heo Seok) announced on the 26th that the obligation to support family members for basic livelihood security living allowance will be completely abolished starting in October.

The government originally planned to abolish it next year, but to eliminate blind spots of poverty, strengthen protection for existing beneficiaries, and due to the prolonged spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the implementation has been moved up by three months.

The support target applies to households with less than 30% of the median income, and the allowance amount is paid as a supplementary benefit by the difference after deducting the recognized income amount per household.

However, cases where the supporting family member has a high income of 100 million KRW per year or high assets (900 million KRW) are excluded.

Suncheon City plans to carry out proactive administration through multifaceted publicity using various media such as mailing to 3,550 households with small health insurance payments, SNS, banners and posters, honorary social welfare officers, and the local community security council.

Meanwhile, the number of living allowance beneficiaries in Suncheon City was 4,700 households (6,050 people) in December last year and 5,350 households (6,750 people) in July this year, showing a 12% increase in household members compared to last year. It is expected to expand further due to the abolition of the obligation to support family members, greatly contributing to stabilizing the lives of the working class, including poverty issues among elderly households.

A city official said, “We will do our best to ensure that the relaxation of the obligation to support family members greatly helps to resolve economic difficulties of welfare blind spots and crisis households.”

For living allowance applications and other detailed information, please contact the Health and Welfare Call Center 129, the administrative welfare center of your address’s eup/myeon/dong, or the Suncheon City Social Welfare Division.

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