The Hunter's working poor turning to charities to survive

Vinnies assisted 9,420 people in the Newcastle and Maitland areas in the first half of this financial year, a 27 per cent increase on the same time last year.

The Hunter figure compares to the statewide increase of 22 per cent.

Significantly, 25 per cent of those who received assistance in the Hunter had not required help from a charity previously.

"The big difference in the people who are coming to us is they are actually working. They are the working poor, that's what we are facing at the moment," Vinnies' north east regional director Clare Van Doorn said.

Hunter-based Samaritans helped 294 individuals and families in December 2023, a 20 per cent increase on December 2022.

"We are unable to say how many of those people are reaching out for the first-time, however staff at Samaritans Emergency Relief centres report that they are seeing an increasing number of requests from people they've never seen before," a spokeswoman said.

"Our Emergency Relief centres have only been fully operational for one week so far in 2024 and have already seen 172 individuals/families. This is compared to 302 for the entire month of January 2023. Based on this, we believe we can expect the increase for demand to continue."

Those seeking help are a combination of people who have been tipped over the edge by unexpected bills through to single parents who can't keep up with the relentless cost of living pressures.

The inability to pay large utility bills has become a major source of stress for many of those who have come forward in recent times.

"Some of these people are literally living day-to-day; they don't know where their food is coming from. I don't know how they get up in the morning. It's so hard," Ms Van Doorn said.

For many, turning to a charity for assistance is the last thing they expected they would be doing. And for many, it's also the hardest.

"Some of them literally don't know where to go and when they do come to us it's often a relief. But they are very proud because they didn't expect to be in that space," Ms Van Doorn said.

In addition to helping deal with immediate crises, Vinnies and other non-government organisations offer a range of counselling and education services.

"If you have never been taught money management skills, you have no idea what they should be doing in tough times," Ms Van Doorn said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on Monday that the government had received advice from Treasury about options to reduce cost of living pressures for low and middle income earners. He said the final advice would be considered by the time an emergency Caucus meeting is held on Wednesday.

Ms Van Doorn said government intervention was needed to ease pressure on the charity sector.

"The thing is this problem is so much bigger than what any of us NGOs can do. It's got to be that broader government because we just can't do it," she said.