Groups faced with empty accounts
Palmerston North community groups already struggling to make ends meet are predicting increasing demand for their services.
Tim Kendrew, manager of Te Pū Harakeke, an umbrella group for close to 100 member organisations, said they were determined to be there for people who needed them.
But for many groups, it would be a challenge.
Te Pū Harakeke had made emergency payments to three groups since December, having only made 10 such grants since 2011.
The group administers the $230,000 community development small grants fund for the city council, and typically retains about $5000 each year to assist any groups facing a financial emergency.
“It’s not much, but without it some groups would have to wind up.
“We are seeing groups of 30 and 40 years standing that have no money in their bank accounts for next month’s bills.”
Kendrew said in many cases it was a short-term cash-flow problem, when payments expected did not land in time to pay the bills.
He said money was always a challenge for the charitable community sector with increased competition for what funding sources were available.
A change of government always created even more uncertainty for those groups that relied heavily on contracts for services and government funding in general, he said.
Some were already seeing contracts they had expected to be renewed not coming to fruition.
Kendrew said the cash squeeze was coming at a time when already-busy services were anticipating increased need stemming from changes such as less emergency housing, tightening rules for Kāinga Ora tenants and less flexible disability support payments.
One of the groups facing pressure was the well-established Housing Advice Centre, which had asked for a $21,000 increase in its grant from the city council.
Board member Susan Baty told the council’s community committee things were really tough.
She said people were coming in with complex needs and full of so much angst and anger there needed to be two staff in the office whenever it was open to manage health and safety risks.
Manager Lynne Clough said many clients who came in were at their lowest ebb, facing genuine distress, upset and an inability to function.
“It’s intense.”
The centre dealt with 890 individual clients in the year to the end of June 2023, and had 11,752 social media contacts.
Its annual report highlighted elevated levels of demand, with a growing number of retired people needing help after losing rental homes, an increased diversity of clients, and single men as the most difficult group to find homes for.
Clough said she was worried about there being less emergency housing available, which would lead to more clients, more distress and more homelessness.
The centre’s request for extra council funding would be considered alongside deliberations on the council’s long-term plan.