Osan City Records Highest Emergency Household Support Payment Rate in Gyeonggi Province

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Osan City announced on the 20th that the first-phase payment rate for the "Emergency Household Livelihood Support" program has achieved the highest rate among municipal governments in Gyeonggi Province, as a result of concentrating administrative efforts on supporting households in crisis facing difficulties due to COVID-19.

The "Emergency Household Livelihood Support" is a project that provides temporary emergency livelihood expenses to low-income households in crisis who are unable to benefit from existing welfare systems or COVID-19 damage support programs.

As of the 19th, Osan City's first-phase payment rate for Emergency Household Livelihood Support has achieved 75%, surpassing the national average of 29% and the Gyeonggi Province average of 25%, ranking first among 31 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province.

A city official stated, "This achievement is the result of all City Hall staff, under Mayor Gwak Sang-wook, moving as one without discord through their attention and full support," adding "The first-phase payment is scheduled to disburse 782.2 million won to 1,189 households by the 30th of this month."

From the start of the project in September of this year, the city determined that business operations in accordance with Ministry of Health and Welfare guidelines would face difficulties in achieving targets. Accordingly, the city deployed all staff to task force teams and enabled smooth business processing at the dong-level administrative welfare centers.

The city's Hope and Welfare Division is overseeing overall project implementation, including planning, formation and operation of task forces at city hall and dong levels, and promotional activities. The city hall task force, comprising 38 members including 7 division managers and 31 staff from the Welfare and Education Bureau, has 4-8 members deployed to the task force daily to carry out Emergency Household Livelihood Support operations.

Additionally, each dong task force has 300 staff members from various departments and divisions, excluding Welfare and Education Bureau employees, joining daily with 20 members each. From the 19th of last month to the 6th of this month, they operated on-site application counters for emergency livelihood support.

The city also conducted active promotional activities through diverse media, including deployment of dedicated support personnel (youth employment opportunity positions) by district, transmission of safety notification messages, and bus display boards and social media.

Osan City Mayor Gwak Sang-wook said, "Although we have achieved the first-place payment rate among 31 cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province, there are still many neighbors around us facing difficulties due to COVID-19," and "We will extend the application deadline to the 30th of this month to identify more households in crisis due to COVID-19, and will make emergency welfare connections for those who do not qualify for the program, prioritizing efforts to stabilize the lives of households in crisis."

Meanwhile, eligible applicants for "Emergency Household Livelihood Support" include individuals with income below 75% of the median income standard and low-income households in crisis with assets of 3.5 billion won or less. They can apply if they have experienced income reduction due to job loss, suspension, or business closure caused by COVID-19.