A BENDIGO community organisation expects to lodge more than 100 applications for loans on the behalf of financially struggling residents before the month’s end.
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Bendigo Family and Financial Services general manager Jenny Elvey said demand for help was at a peak as families bore the cumulative pressures of the festive season and the looming start of a new school year.
“Before Christmas, everyone’s thinking Christmas. After Christmas, that’s when it really hits,” she said.
The organisation handled about 60 applications for funding from the No Interest Loan Scheme, or NILS, during an average month in 2017.
Ms Elvey said many of the loan applications to cross her desk in the past few weeks were for school-related expenses such as uniforms, books, and stationery.
Funding provided through NILS cannot be used to pay for rent, bond, bills or debt consolidation.
Applicants must have an income of less than $45,000 a year or a Heath Care Card to be eligible for a loan.
“Some of the clients we see, they live on the smell of an oily rag,” Ms Elvey said.
“Their income doesn’t cover the cost of what they need it to cover.”
Ms Elvey said there had been a noticeable increase in the number of people walking through the organisation’s doors who were employed part-time.
While some clients might not be in a position to take on more hours, for others the issue was a scarcity of full-time work.
“They’ll sort of grab at anything they can get,’ she said.
The challenges associated with underemployment were compounded by a lack of affordable housing.
The 3550 postcode was rated ‘severely unaffordable’ for a single pensioner in the most recent Rental Affordability Index, and ‘extremely unaffordable’ for a single person on benefits.
The state government has identified Bendigo as one of the greatest areas of need for support for people experiencing homeless, while launching its Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Plan at the weekend.
It committed millions of dollars to the establishment of outreach teams throughout the state, including Bendigo, as well as investing $13 million in accommodation units.
“Through our investments in assertive outreach teams and additional rapid housing, we will give vulnerable Victorians a pathway out of homelessness,” Minister for Housing Martin Foley said.
Ms Elvey said she had known of Bendigo families with a single income renting four-bedroom properties because they couldn’t get anything cheaper.
“The majority of our clients are very aware of how much money they’ve got,” she said.
She urged people experiencing financial hardship to seek help, and said organisations such as Bendigo Family and Financial Services might be able to point people in the direction of avenues of assistance.
“Sometimes they’re not aware of the things out there to help,” she said.
BFFS can be reached on 5441 5277.