Seoul City Links Customized Welfare to 'Socially Isolated Single-Person Household Survey'

Thorough Investigation and Identification of Last Year's Survey Refusers, Absentees, and Autonomous District's Self-Estimated At-Risk Households

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 19th that it will conduct a ‘Survey on the Status of Socially Isolated Single-Person Households at Risk’ to early identify vulnerable households outside the social safety net and prevent risk situations such as solitary deaths.

This is the second survey since the first one last year, conducted together with all 25 autonomous districts until the end of the year, with public officials from the community service centers visiting individual households directly. If a household is judged to be at risk based on the survey results, customized welfare services necessary for the target, such as emergency welfare (living expenses) and care services, will be connected.

In line with the city’s core philosophy of ‘Walking Together with the Vulnerable,’ Seoul plans to establish a preventive and continuous detection system for socially isolated households, thoroughly identifying residents in need of help and supporting them to escape crisis situations and lead healthy and dignified lives.

This year’s survey aims to thoroughly identify socially isolated single-person households at risk, targeting more than approximately 120,000 households, including those who were not completed in last year’s survey and those estimated by each autonomous district as socially isolated single-person households at risk.

The survey targets include ▲ households not surveyed (76,204 households) in the 2021 survey on middle-aged and older single-person households in housing-vulnerable areas ▲ socially isolated households at risk estimated by autonomous districts (40,690 households) ▲ cases reclassified among those surveyed in the 2021 survey on middle-aged and older single-person households in housing-vulnerable areas ▲ surveys conducted according to the 2022 autonomous district self-survey plans (8 autonomous districts) ▲ and other residents wishing to participate in the survey.

The survey will be conducted primarily through visits by community service center officials from this month until December. To ensure uniform standards across districts, Seoul uses the ‘Single-Person Household Survey Form’ it developed and has been using since last year’s survey, investigating economic, housing, health conditions, and risk of solitary death.

If a household is identified as at risk through the survey, welfare services will be immediately linked. These include ▲ public benefits (application for benefits under the National Basic Livelihood Security Act) ▲ emergency welfare (national and Seoul-type) support ▲ private services (linkage with private sponsorship donations and goods) ▲ care services (provision of Care SOS Service) ▲ safety checks (Our Neighborhood Care Group, AI safety calls, smart plugs, Seoul Salpimi app, and other smart care) ▲ and case management.

Kim Sang-han, Director of Welfare Policy at Seoul City, said, “It is difficult to identify residents in welfare blind spots solely by the efforts of community service center staff, so we ask neighbors to actively cooperate in discovering households at risk during this survey.” He added, “For households identified through this survey targeting socially isolated single-person households at risk who need the most care among residents in welfare blind spots, we will provide meticulous support with customized welfare services in line with the city’s policy of walking together with the vulnerable.”

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