Neighbourhood Houses will be under financial pressure and may be forced to cut back services if they do not receive a funding boost, warns Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell.
Across Victoria there are over 400 Neighbourhood Houses who deliver vital services, especially regionally including toy libraries and book swaps, English classes and internet access, Men’s Sheds and childcare, community gardens and communal lunches, arts and crafts, and food banks.
These services are delivered by 5,500 staff, and almost 7,000 dedicated volunteers, who receive 10 million visits a year and give out 2,000 tons of food relief.
Neighbourhood Houses Victoria has appealed for additional funding of $2.5 million to be shared across the network with Ms Lovell speaking in parliament recently to fully support this request.
“Neighbourhood Houses provide invaluable benefit to the community, and the government must do what is necessary to ensure these Houses remain sustainable into the future,” Ms Lovell said.
“The Minister must commit to delivering the requested $2.5 million for Neighbourhood Houses.”
For a service that already runs on a shoe-string budget, cost increases and a shortfall of funding seriously threaten the long-term sustainability of the program.
Indexed funding increases for Neighbourhood Houses are not keeping pace with real inflation, and without urgent support the food banks will soon have to start turning people away.
Yarrawonga’s local neighbourhood house within the Yarrawonga Mulwala Community and Learning Centre (YMCLC) network provides a wide array of services and is a pillar of the local community with Chief Executive Officer Julie-Anne Clarke saying that neighbourhood houses are important place-based social infrastructure where people come to connect, learn, and contribute to their local community.
“As one of 400 Neighbourhood Houses in Victoria, Yarrawonga Mulwala Community & Learning Centre (YMCLC) welcomes the support from Wendy Lovell MP for raising the matter in question time on adjournment regarding the challenges that the community sector, including neighbourhood houses, face with increasing costs,” Ms Clarke said.
“YMCLC receives funding through the Neighbourhood House Coordination Program. This funding assists with employing a community support coordinator, and other related costs to support the provision of community development programs and activities.
“YMCLC welcomes the support from Wendy Lovell MP and we look forward to this additional funding for the sector being considered as part of the 2024-25 State Budget process which will allow YMCLC to continue in our mission to provide a whole range of community services that increase life opportunities, choices and skills for all people including those experiencing economic hardship.”