One of the leading charities in Glen Innes has painted a picture of rising poverty and homelessness in the area.
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The St Vincent de Paul Society in its review of the past financial year says that there is an “increasing number in our community who are challenged to meet their basic and household needs from their limited incomes”.
The society which was founded in France in 1833 as part of the Catholic Church has a local branch which sells second-hand goods at Vinnies shop in Bourke Street. The proceeds go to those in dire need. It also distributes electricity and telephone vouchers supplied by Telstra and the federal government.
The charity said it helped 217 families and individuals in the 2016/17 year, distributing $73,760 for food, rent, transport, medical costs, electricity, phone bills and basic household material needs.
Kerry Muir from the Society in Glen Innes said: “Of the 217 people assisted, 103 families and individuals (47 per cent of the total) have approached the Society for assistance for the first time over the past year”.
He said that the basic support from the government was the Newstart Allowance. Forty per cent of those helped by the St Vincent de Paul Society in Glen Innes were on this minimum payment but still couldn’t make ends meet. Mr Muir said: “These community members find the allowance forces many to default on rent, to limit their food intake and find energy costs almost beyond their ability to pay.”
Nearly twenty per cent of the people the local branch of the Society helped were homeless under the government’s definition of homelessness. Mr Muir said: “This number is an upward trend in our community and is influenced by the increasing cost of accommodation and those living in rental stress”.
On top of that, he said, rising electricity and gas costs were hitting the poorest hardest. A quarter of what the Society paid out was for food.
Mr Muir said that the Society was grateful to the community of Glen Innes for the help people gave in donating “pre-owned clothing, furniture and household items. Sale of such items provides some of the necessary funds to support members of our community in their time of need”. He added that the shop welcomes volunteers.