Bendigo Family and Financial Services’ emergency relief funding was cut by 18 per cent this year, even as the number of individuals seeking emergency relief rose by 30 percent – from 1380 different people in the 2013/14 financial year to 1800 in the last financial year. 

“Our working capacity was 25 per cent higher this year than last, however, we have less money after our funding decreased six months ago,” general manager Jenny Elvey said. “So we’re having to do more with less.”

The financial counsellor said all of the services provided by her not-for-profit organisation had witnessed a similar rise: individuals requesting food assistance went from 1300 in 2013/14 to 2000 people in 2014/15 and those seeking financial counselling, debt consolidation and a No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) rose from 1370 to 1828. 

All the charity organisations contacted by the Bendigo Advertiser painted a similar picture, as struggling families face increasing pressures from high rents and a rise in the cost of living. But Ms Elvey said the story was not one confined to central Victoria. 

“This is something that has gone right through Australia, with the new funding arrangement affecting struggling people and families nationally,” she said. 

Facing rising rents and higher utilities, more families in Bendigo are turning to charity to help pay their bills. 

Former truck driver, sheep shearer, horse breaker and single-mother of seven, Patricia Davies has been a regular at the Bendigo Family and Financial Services for the last four years. 

“In the beginning it was to volunteer… I’m a carer by nature,” she said.  

“But over that period I’ve found it harder and harder to survive on my pension. I started struggling to pay gas, electricity, bills, car rego, petrol, going to the hospital twice a week (and) physio.”

“Then I became a client.” 

Ms Davies receives $970 in disability support a fortnight, due to severe back problems for which she requires a walker.

“It probably dates from the first time I was thrown by a horse,” she said. 

“Then there was the truck driving ... in those days there was no power steering, we loaded and unloaded by hand.”

Of her fortnightly allowance, $250 goes toward paying rent and $210 toward the bills of her Long Gully home. She spends $54 on medication, $150 on groceries and $40 on cleaning.

“Once you factor in filling the car, going to Melbourne for treatment … I end up spending more than I get in,” she said. 

And the 62-year-old is preparing for her expenses to continue to rise – she says her fortnightly script will go up to $70 next year and soon she will need to hire an electric wheelchair at $100 every two weeks.

“The cost of living is just rising faster than I can keep up,” she said.

Victorian households in low-income brackets are spending more than half of their income on rent alone – and regional president of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Tony Spurling, said many simply could not afford it. 

“We take for granted the supply of utilities and yet we are finding more and more that a large number of families cannot afford these basic necessities,” he said.

“It is becoming harder and harder for so many people to provide a roof over their head.”

Giving his annual Christmas address to volunteers this week, Mr Spurling said the $68,800 in rent assistance and short term motel accommodation provided by the charity this year represented a “considerable increase” on 2014. 

Of the $570,000 in charity the society provided this year, $273,000 was used in food assistance.

But Bendigo charity organisations say more and more families are being pushed to charity as they are unable to pay rent, bills and other basic costs of living. 

Last month the country’s first rental affordability index found that rental affordability was – in the words of one of its authors – “dividing Australia in a big way”.

That index showed regional Victorian households in low-income brackets were paying up to 58 per cent of their income on rent.

Mr Spurling St Vincent de Paul Society had seen about a 10 per cent rise in the amount spent on services on services such as utilities, transport and prescription medication.  

This year the society spent $36,000 in utility assistance and $46,000 in transport assistance.

“Our lifestyle is dependent on transport and without it, people have trouble finding a job, attending medical appointments and generally being part of the community,” Mr Spurling said. 

And while many charities said they were struggling with recent cuts to their budgets at a time of increased demand, the St Vincent de Paul Society regional president said the social service sector had been put under increased strain by both sides of the political aisle.

“Political parties of both persuasions talk a lot about macro economics but are devoid of consideration as to the social impact of the inadequacy of the social benefits system,” he said. 

The hard work of volunteers, he said, was keeping an increasingly strained safety net intact. 

“The long and short term effect on the family and the lifelong impressions on the children cannot be measured, but one thing is certain, the society will use its resources to fill the gap where government has failed.”

As their budgets are cut and more people come through their doors seeking assistance, Bendigo charities are increasingly looking to help struggling families better manage their own finances. 

Salvation Army Captain Ray Butler said the amount of area his organisation covered had been extended to include places as far afield as Shepparton. And as the amount of charities receiving government funding was reduced, the Salvos were required to increase the volume of their work, over a larger geographic area. 

At the same time, the amount the Salvation Army received was 20 per cent less this year than last. 

“Essentially, that’s more demand and less money to do it,” Mr Butler said. 

“So we’ve been more concentrated with people around financial case management and counselling.”

Bendigo Family and Financial Services general manager Jenny Elvey said her organisation had adopted a similar approach – despite seeing a rise in the number of people seeking emergency assistance for food and to meet costs of living. 

“We can’t do as much for vulnerable people as we would like to, a lot of what we now do is financial education, advocacy on their behalf, putting them on payment plans that are affordable or referring them to financial counsellors if they need help with complex financial issues,” she said. 

“But we don't have the funds we’ve had in previous years which might have gone towards things like helping a family pay their electricity bills, or with medical assistance.”

This year the saw the Bendigo Family and Financial Services emergency relief funding cut by 18 per cent. It lost financial counselling funding altogether and is now self -funding the program.

Mr Butler said the increased demand on the Salvation Army’s resources had meant the charity was considering the future of services such a popular drought relief officer, who attended the needs of farming communities throughout northern and central Victoria. 

But Mr Butler said the increased focus on financial counselling was having some positive results. 

“The levels of people seeking Christmas assistance hasn’t increased so far this year and we’re quite sure that's because of some of the work we’ve been doing around financial counseling – people being a bit more positive and responsible around planning for Christmas,” he said. 

“That might mean purchasing something through layby and making planned installments rather than putting things on credit card or out of living expenses.”

Bendigo Advertiser