Japan Press Weekly

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2013 September 4 - 10 [WELFARE]

Welfare recipients also deserve A/C

Akahata Sunday edition

With the increase in deaths from heatstroke during this hot summer, a welfare recipient was able to get her air-conditioner fixed thanks to advice from a support organization.

In Tokyo’s 23 wards alone, 55 people died from heatstroke in August despite being indoors. Only three of them were using an air-conditioner. The 32 of those who died did not even have one.

An air-conditioner in this day and age is no longer a luxury item but a daily necessity.

A 66-year-old woman in Saitama Prefecture who has a mental disability had a broken air-conditioner. Although it did not work, a city official told her that the costs for repair of the air-conditioner are not covered by welfare. Then, she went to a local Organization for the Protection of Life and Health for help. Advised by this group, she at last received the money for the repair after repeatedly making requests showing a doctor’s certificate to city authorities.

People receiving livelihood protection benefits can obtain a low-interest welfare loan from the Japan National Council of Social Welfare for the installation of an air-conditioner but some municipalities neglect to inform needy people of the loan program. Tsuji Seiji, vice chairman of the All Japan Federation of Organizations for the Protection of Life and Health (Zenseiren), said that they should make this system known to all people on welfare.

Yet, the loan program is unlikely to be accessible to welfare recipients who have no other income than livelihood protection benefits because they cannot repay the loan.

Tsuji said that the welfare ministry should include the costs for maintaining an air-conditioner in payments of livelihood protection benefits, and that local governments should create their own grant program for welfare beneficiaries who receive neither a pension benefit nor wage income.