Gyeonggi Province Provides Mold and Pest Removal, Wall Finishing, and Cooling/Heating Systems to Vulnerable Children's Households

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Gyeonggi Province is launching a project to improve the residential environment of children's households living in substandard housing conditions such as semi-basements and rooftops.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 12th, this project is the 'Clean Service Support Project for Children's Low-Income Housing Households,' which provides mold and pest removal, wall finishing, cooling and heating systems, and other support to children's households suffering from mold and pest damage or struggling with severe cold winters and hot summers.

Applications for eligible applicants will begin on the 13th.

The province has secured a total budget of 844 million won by participating in the 2023 'Lottery Fund Support Project' competition supervised by the Ministry of Planning and Finance to significantly expand the project scale this year.

Through this, the project will expand from 48 households in 4 cities and counties during the pilot program last year to support 280 households across all 31 cities and counties in the province this year.

The project targets households with children under 18 years old who reside in semi-basements, rooftops, or homes below the minimum housing standard area requirements.

The area standard is 43 square meters or less based on a family of four, and there is no area requirement for semi-basement and rooftop residents.

The income standard is 100% of the median income or below, or recipients of basic living allowance such as livelihood assistance or housing assistance.

Households meeting each criterion can apply from the 13th until the end of April by receiving an application form from the relevant city/county department or local housing welfare center. Final selected beneficiaries will be contacted individually in May.

Starting as early as June, final selected beneficiaries can receive residential environment improvement support of approximately 3 million won per household through home appliances worth approximately 2 million won such as cooling and heating systems and air purifiers, as well as cleaning services worth approximately 1 million won including wallpaper and flooring replacement.

Kim Tae-chul, head of the Housing Welfare Team at Gyeonggi Province, stated, "It is known that children living in vulnerable housing conditions have a higher probability of contracting diseases. Through this project, we hope that children who will be the future of the province can reside in better environments," and added, "We will continue to make efforts in housing welfare projects to ensure there are no blind spots in housing welfare services."

Meanwhile, the province held two project briefing sessions (video conferences) for project managers in each city and county from early this year to prepare for the project.