Plea to dig deep: Salvation Army seeks assistance to help people in need

Salvation Army Major Warren Elliot said there were a growing number of people in need of help.

"The Great Ocean Road region needs your support more than ever," Mr Elliott said.

"We are seeing more people come through our doors every week, new families who have never done it this tough before, and people are feeling the pinch.

"They are skipping meals, unable to afford utility bills or medication for their kids. This is why we need your support."

The Red Shield Appeal weekend is May 25 and 26 and people are encouraged to donate or volunteer their time to help collect the vital funds.

This year marks the 60^th time the Red Shield Appeal has been held and the goal is to raise $38 million to continue supporting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.

Mr Elliott's comments come after The Standard revealed more than more than 70 Warrnambool clients are homeless or facing the risk of homelessness but the Salvation Army doesn't have the funding to help them.

Salvation Army homelessness south-west manager Lindsay Stow said the Warrnambool service had recorded 416 new cases of people seeking homelessness assistance in the past nine months.

Sadly, that's 50 per cent more clients than the service is currently funded to be able to assist.

"The housing options for those who come to us for assistance are typically social housing or private rental," Mr Stow said.

"Tight rental markets and large waiting lists for public housing are the real challenge for us in being able to respond effectively and appropriately to people in need.

"A couple of nights in a motel, without any longer-term outcome, is little more than brief respite from awful circumstances."

Mr Stow said there were very few properties in Warrnambool which were deemed affordable for people on low incomes.

"A single parent with two children would typically receive Centrelink support of around $1500 per fortnight, including rent assistance, give or take," he said.

"That's $750 per week. 30 per cent of that (the housing stress indicator threshold) is $225."

Across Australia last year, through The Salvation Army's network of over 400 centres and 2000 services in areas such as homelessness, family and domestic violence, youth, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, financial hardship and much more, the Salvos provided: