Gyeonggi Province Pursues 17 Projects Including Financial and Economic Education for 1.4 Million Single-Person Households

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province will pursue 17 projects, including financial and economic education and individual financial consultation support, to simultaneously respect and protect the independent and communal lives of 1.4 million single-person households in the province.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 28th that it has established the '2022 Gyeonggi Province Single-Person Household Support Plan' containing such measures.

This initiative is an annual implementation plan established in accordance with the 'Gyeonggi Province Ordinance on Promoting Social Friendliness and Support for Single-Person Households.' Under the vision of 'realizing a community living 'separately, yet together' (Na + Uri),' it comprises seven fields and 17 projects: ▲Overview ▲Overcoming loneliness and isolation ▲Social dining to improve single-person meals ▲Support for independent living ▲Health support ▲Safe living environment creation ▲Well-dying support.

First, as a new project, the province will provide financial and economic education and individual financial consultation support.

It will operate customized financial and economic programs by life cycle from youth to seniors, connecting education and consultation to help prepare and manage seed money, housing funds, and retirement funds.

The province plans to select project implementation agencies in the first half of the year, and single-person households can receive free financial and economic education through the implementation agencies.

For ongoing projects, to help single-person households overcome loneliness and isolation, the province will establish youth-exclusive communities and support customized programs to strengthen social networks.

Additionally, it plans to support club activities in areas of interest for middle-aged single-person households and provide veterinary medical services to vulnerable single-person households raising pets.

The province will also actively promote social dining projects to improve single-person meals.

To address the 'eating alone' problem, one of the difficulties faced by single-person households, and restore social relationships, the province will implement community shared kitchens and dietary improvement programs.

The province will also operate the 'Three Meals a Day' Happiness Sharing Centers, which provide affordable, high-quality communal meals to residents of Happy Housing.

Respecting the independent lives of single-person households, the province will implement 'Solo Life Tips' education consisting of practical know-how for living alone, and provide emotional support and safety checks through weekly one or two-part telephone psychological counseling for middle-aged adults to support their health, along with operating customized health care programs by age group.

Additionally, ▲for creating a safe living environment, establishing a crime prevention and response system within homes based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology ▲supplying 259 purchase-lease housing units and 569 Youth Gyeonggi Happy Housing units for young people ▲providing well-dying preparation education including life note writing for seniors aged 60 and above ▲providing advice on posthumous asset management through legal experts ▲operating a public asset administrator system to prevent abandonment and illegal misappropriation of residual assets when unacknowledged deaths occur ▲establishing a '5-year master plan' (2023-2027) by July for developing systematic mid- and long-term policies are also included.

The province has allocated a total of 129.2 billion won for implementing these single-person household support policies. Of this, policy project expenses are 5.1 billion won, and housing support project expenses are 124.1 billion won.

Ji Ju-yeon, director of the Gyeonggi Province Women and Family Bureau, stated, "Due to aging and socioeconomic reasons, among 5.09 million households in the province in 2020, single-person households account for 1.4 million households (27.6%), and the proportion of single-person households is increasing rapidly from 23.8% in 2016," adding, "Single-person households are no longer an unfamiliar group but a representative household type among diverse family structures. We will create practical policies to ensure they can live comfortably on their own."

Meanwhile, the province newly reflected the 'Customized Financial and Economic Education by Life Cycle and Individual Financial Consultation Project' based on the results of the 'Gyeonggi Province Single-Person Household Survey' conducted last year targeting 3,540 single-person households in the province.

Other policy needs for single-person households will be incorporated into the '5-year master plan' being established this year from a mid- to long-term perspective.