Tara Murray
Whittlesea residents have been hit hard financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figures released by Whittlesea council as part of its latest report into the response to the pandemic show the impact of the virus on residents’ hip pockets.
Postcode-level modelling showed that in June, the financial impact on most postcodes in the municipality was categorised as medium.
By October, the same modelling indicated that the financial impact on all postcodes in Whittlesea was in the ‘high’ to ‘extreme’ range, suggesting residents are likely to have experienced significant loss of income and employment during the second lockdown.
Whittlesea Community Connections has seen a sharp increase in people seeking financial support following the reduction of the federal government’s Coronavirus supplement.
More than 15,000 Whittlesea residents received JobSeeker or Youth Allowance payments in September, more than double the number in March, outgoing referrals from Whittlesea Community Connections’ financial assistance program increased from 23 to 84 and then 111.
Council continues to provide emergency relief to residents, businesses and community groups.
Four new financial and six in-kind requests were received from eight non-government organisations in October.
Since April 6, 20 local organisations have received financial support under the Emergency Relief Fund, totalling $320,918.
During October, council helped fund 103 businesses experiencing financial hardship under the Business Relief and Resilience Program, totalling $450,396.
Also during October, council received an additional nine hardship applications via the COVID-19 Hardship Policy.
A total of 171 applications have been received since April 6, and 132 have been approved.
The latest figures also show that 23 food or health and beauty premises closed permanently in October, the highest number of closures in a month since March.
