The 2019-20 Financial Year provision will go down in CSF ’ s history - rising to the challenges of the global pandemic and a record number of Emergency Relief ( ER ) clients , cases and sessions . Only 5 years ago , CSF needed to respond to an uncertain future with competitive grant tendering and reductions in Federal Government funding .
As a result of then decreased funding , our total ER expenditure ( direct client assistance ) in 2015-16 was a combined ( financial and in-kind ) $ 317,849 value provided to financially disadvantaged residents of Frankston .
In 2019-20 , and despite all the challenges of COVID-19 , this increased to $ 764,019 , breaking last year ’ s record of $ 611,327 . Included in this increase was an additional $ 158,994 in financial assistance to help people with the likes of essential foods , medications and accommodation related expenses ( see Page 7 for full break down ).
It ’ s important to note that the breakdowns on Page 7 are specific to the ER financial and in-kind support value that CSF has provided directly to clients . We take out the ER contributions made to the likes of staff wages and other purchases ( as covered in the Treasurer ’ s report ), so as not to inflate the overall value of Emergency Relief assistance given directly to clients .
Included in the breakdown is a 20 % increase in the provision of vouchers , and a more than 65 % increase in our provision of essential foods , such as pantry items , fruit / vegetables , fresh produce and hot / other pre-prepared meals . There was also an 80 % increase in funds put towards helping people with essential household goods , such as fridges and washing machines .
CSF contributions to assist residents with rising utility costs and essential medicines have both risen by almost 30 %, school text books / fees has more than doubled , as has our financial contribution towards helping people with removal / storage / housing adjustments .
This demand has been driven by increasing numbers of both new and existing clients , with total client contacts up by almost 30 % from the previous reporting period and a 25 % increase in ER provision . We define an instance of ER provision as recording either a ‘ Financial Aid Given ’ or ‘ Material Aid Given ’ code in our database , after an instance of ER support for a client . In 2019-20 we recorded 24,283 ER instances compared to 18,488 in the previous year .
ER cases also increased to 9,507 compared with 7,131 in the previous year . It ’ s important to note that an ER ‘ case ’ is about the client ‘ contact ’ rather than the ER provision . In a given case there may be a number of ER provisions , as shown in the ER expenditure graph ( food , medical , utility , etc ).
Total volunteer / staff actions increased by almost 10,000 instances to a record 35,517 . This total includes all ER provision , along with all referrals and cases of personal assistance , ie : helping fill out forms , printing and other practical supports . These figures are a great outcome and reflect CSF ’ s ability and capacity to adapt our ER provision and services .
In terms of client demographics , when it came to client housing status , those struggling to maintain private rental still made up for a majority of cases - 41 % of cases compared with 37 % in the previous reporting period . There was a 2 % increase in public housing residents ( up by 531 cases ), and also a slight increase to those in shared / rooming living arrangements .
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Community Support Frankston