▲ Homeless individuals
The government is pushing to make the deployment of mental health specialists mandatory at comprehensive homeless support centers to enable early responses to mental health issues such as addiction and depression among the homeless.
The minimum period of homelessness required to receive medical benefits for the homeless will be reduced from the current three months to one month, and application procedures will also be improved to ensure that street homeless individuals are not excluded from nationwide welfare benefits such as disaster relief funds.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it has drawn up the Third Comprehensive Plan for the Welfare and Independence Support of the Homeless, which contains these measures, and is currently gathering external opinions.
The government establishes a comprehensive homeless welfare plan every five years based on the Act on the Welfare and Independence Support of the Homeless.
This draft plan was prepared by analyzing the achievements and limitations of the Second Comprehensive Plan for Homeless Welfare (2021–2025) and reflecting the results of the 2024 survey on the homeless population.
According to the plan, the government will newly pursue measures to reinforce mental health expertise within the on-site homeless protection system.
According to the 2024 survey, 23.7% of the homeless showed problematic drinking behaviors, and 28.7% were likely suffering from depression.
The mental health of street homeless individuals is worse than that of sheltered homeless people staying in self-sufficiency, rehabilitation, or nursing facilities, with 60.7% of street homeless individuals being likely cases of depression.
The government plans to gradually expand mental health support projects at comprehensive homeless support centers while making the deployment of mental health specialists mandatory.
As of 2024, mental health specialists were working in only 3 out of 13 comprehensive homeless support centers.
Local governments that have street homeless populations but lack comprehensive homeless support centers plan to include assignments for handling street homeless tasks within their local mental health systems.
Measures to provide procedural conveniences will also be implemented to ensure that street homeless individuals are not excluded from nationwide welfare programs such as disaster relief funds and livelihood consumption coupons.
The government is also reviewing ways to improve procedures by supporting restoration costs for homeless individuals whose resident registrations have been revoked or who have unknown residences, and by allowing applications to be made at their current place of residence rather than their registered address.
The criteria for medical benefits for the homeless will also be eased to expand the pool of eligible recipients.
Currently, medical benefits for the homeless require maintaining a period of homelessness of three months or more, and the procedures are also complex, making them difficult to apply in emergency situations.
In fact, the number of beneficiaries of medical benefits for the homeless has continuously decreased from 701 in 2016 to 327 in 2020, and 129 in 2024.
Accordingly, the government plans to shorten the minimum period of homelessness required to receive medical benefits from the current three months to one month, and the minimum period of health insurance premium arrears from six months to three months, respectively.
An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated, "The third comprehensive plan draft will be finalized after deliberation by the Social Security Deliberation Committee in late this month or early to mid-October," adding, "We are currently undergoing procedures such as gathering opinions with the goal of announcing it next month."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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