'Support for Homeless Returnees' Seoul City Provides 3 Million KRW Deposit per Household... Partners with E-Land

This Year, 60 New Households Added... Total Operation Target of 256 Households

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 11th that it will supply an additional 38 units of homeless support housing in July to help homeless individuals reintegrate into the community.

Seoul's homeless support housing is public rental housing that combines case management services such as daily life recovery support with living spaces for homeless people who have difficulty living independently due to mental illness and alcohol dependence. After a three-year pilot project from 2016 to 2018, the homeless support housing has been operated as a full project since 2019. The housing type consists of studio-type row houses with an exclusive area of about 15 to 30㎡ per household, with a deposit of 3 million KRW and monthly rent ranging from 100,000 to 300,000 KRW.

To ensure that homeless individuals who lack the initial deposit do not miss out on moving in due to financial difficulties, Seoul City, with sponsorship from the E-Land Foundation, fully supports the deposit of 3 million KRW per household for the support housing.

The E-Land Foundation has been helping resolve crises and supporting independence for socially vulnerable groups through crisis family support projects for 37 years. Since 2016, it has been discovering the potential for independence among homeless people through support housing projects that provide both housing and independence support to the most vulnerable homeless individuals in housing welfare. From the pilot project to the current full project, it has been jointly supporting the rental deposit assistance program.

The eligibility criteria for applying to Seoul's homeless support housing are homeless individuals in single-person households without housing, with a monthly average income below 50% of the 2021 urban worker's monthly average income (2,248,479 KRW), and who have mental illness or alcohol dependence. Homeless individuals living on the streets without records of using facility services can also apply with a recommendation from the Homeless Comprehensive Support Center.

Gu Jong-won, Director of Welfare Planning at Seoul City, said, "As part of walking together with the vulnerable, Seoul will continue to supply homeless support housing in cooperation with the E-Land Foundation to help homeless people living on the streets or in facilities live harmoniously with neighbors in the community."

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