Almost 7000 people in Indi now relying on JobSeeker to live, demand tipped to grow

This equates to a 59 per cent increase in the number of people on JobSeeker payments across the electorate of Indi.

And that is only expected to grow, with community organisations tipping once the payment resorts back to almost pre-pandemic rates at the end of March more people are going to fall below the poverty line.

In Wodonga alone, there were 2147 people relying on the fortnightly support payment in January, compared with just 1056 people in March 2020, according to data released by the federal government.

This is a 103 per cent increase.

Albury Wodonga Regional Foodshare general manager Peter Matthews said there has been a steady increase in demand over the past few months.

But once the rate drops from $715.70 a fortnight for an unemployed single person with no children to $615.70 on April 1, Mr Matthews said some people will find themselves running out of cash for the first time in their lives.

"At this stage people are still benefiting from the higher JobSeeker rate but the end of next month, when the new rate comes into play, clearly that is well below the poverty line and isn't a livable amount," he told The Border Mail.

"When people have lower income and have to meet those basic needs costs like rent, power, water, food becomes discretionary.

"We are expecting mid-April to be a crunch point for a lot of families and individuals, but it is all an unknown at the moment.

"Regardless we are prepared for that demand increase."

Mr Matthews said the regions are seeing a huge demand for rental houses with people from the cities making the move.

"Some places have less than 0.5 per cent of the total rental properties in that area available," he said.

"So it is almost impossible to find a place to rent, that is going to push rental prices even higher.

"We are prepared but it will be distressing for everybody put in those situations, especially if it is their first time they have been faced with that."

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Indi MP Helen Haines said almost 7000 people across her electorate are relying on JobSeeker, an additional 2500 people since March.

"That is 2000 additional people in my electorate alone who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic who will now be scraping by on $44 a day," she said.

"Right now on realestate.com.au, the average cost of a two-bed rental in Wodonga is $40 a day.

"Even with some rental assistance, there are 2147 residents of Wodonga on JobSeeker right now who will be trying to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table, and look for work at the same time.

"Parents who, for the first time, as a result of the temporary coronavirus payments, were able to put fresh fruit in their kids' lunchboxes or offer some after school activities, will now be rethinking what they can afford."

Dr Haines labelled the support payment increase of $50 a fortnight as "disappointing".

"When I meet with small businesses in Indi, many of them tell me they are keen to bring on more workers. But some of their biggest challenges are things like lack of affordable accommodation for workers and difficulty finding people with the right skills," she said.

"By sending the most vulnerable Australians back under the poverty line, this cut does nothing to solve these real challenges."

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