폭염 속 인천공항서 쫓겨난 노숙인…인천시 노숙인 지원체계는 태부족

A man named ㄱ씨, who had been living on the streets at Incheon Airport for a year, recently moved to a shelter in Seoul due to an eviction notice from Incheon Airport on 30th last month. The airport had identified around 16 homeless individuals within its premises, prompting the issuance of eviction notices. According to the notice, "personal belongings left behind during homelessness may be disposed of under the same law," and "failure to comply with anti-homelessness measures may result in fines or imprisonment or labor." ㄱ씨 mentioned that airport authorities requested him to organize his belongings the day before the eviction notice was posted, giving him a week to do so.

However, the next day, the eviction notice was posted, and he was immediately transferred to a shelter in Seoul. The problem lies in the fact that these homeless individuals face uncertainty about where to go after being evicted from the airport. Incheon currently lacks a comprehensive support center and temporary shelter for the homeless.

A comprehensive support center provides medical and welfare services to the homeless after forming a relationship with them through street counseling. A temporary shelter allows crisis homeless individuals to stay for up to 30 days. However, Incheon City delegates the task of street counseling and housing connection to local facilities, and they utilize temporary housing facilities for the homeless.

Nonetheless, the number of street counseling sessions for airport homeless individuals is only three to four times per month, and the facilities are substandard, making it difficult for homeless individuals to utilize them. Homeless activist Hong Forming suggests that it is difficult to determine the services desired by the homeless based on only one or two street counseling sessions per month, and it seems they are merely given a temporary solution in a state where specialized services are lacking.

This lack of facilities can be attributed to the budget. During the 6th Incheon City Council, Incheon City mentioned that although they considered a comprehensive support center, they were criticized for spending 5 billion to 10 billion won on its construction, as there were only 139 homeless individuals in Incheon. The activist plans to request the suspension of airport homeless individuals' forced eviction, the provision of public support systems by Incheon City, and other measures at a press conference on the 12th.