Human service providers in the City of Whittlesea are struggling to meet demand, according to a newly released council report.
The Human Services Needs Analysis says that as a result of that demand some residents are going without services they need, including access to early childhood intervention, youth mental health services, family violence intervention, and housing services.
Councillors vowed at last week’s meeting to step up lobbying of the state and federal governments for more funding to support and attract more service providers to the municipality.
Whittlesea mayor Mary Lalios said the report’s findings were a concern.
“While a growing population presents a number of challenges, there are ways council can help alleviate the shortage by advocating for and facilitating the expansion of the service providers into the municipality,” Cr Lalios said.
The report said the council’s socio-economic diversity, with areas of significant disadvantage, major population growth and its geographical size were some of the factors affecting the delivery of human services.
The report will be officially released at a ‘Whittlesea community futures partnership’ meeting on August 4. The survey was conducted between March and October last year. It incorporates feedback from 63 agencies and 13 other council surveys.
Lexi Cottee
