Cost-of-living crisis continues to bite
27 February 2024
People visiting for food bank products in January 2024 seems to be at its highest number since records were initially captured.
At the beginning of PlaceShapers campaigning on the cost-of-living crisis, I blogged about the impact.
A year on from the anniversary of the Guarantee Our Essentials campaign, I see that there are still many people out there who need ongoing help and support, not just financially but mentally.
The pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis hasn’t left us; in fact for some it’s harder than ever. As chair of Worthing Homes Residents Panel, I hear of issues where people are still struggling one way or another.
Perhaps they need help with budgeting, maybe they are just not aware of the help that is out there. For example, if you have a severe mental illness such as Bi-Polar, you may be entitled to a lower council tax bill. A fact that isn't often promoted. This could make the difference to whether you have your heating on or not. I hear issues where mould and damp are a concern, but people are worried about the cost of using a dehumidifier and the running of additional equipment.
At Worthing Homes, we saw a slight drop in referrals with the financial referrals team mid pandemic, but more recently these figures are on the up again, already overtaking the total for 22/23.
The excellent work done by our Community House team has shown an increase of 1303 visitors in January this year, compared to 799 for the same period in 2023. The number of people visiting for food bank products in January 2024 seems to be at its highest number since records were initially captured. These figures shown that there are still plenty of people out there relying on help from others to simply get by.
I suppose people are becoming more accepting of the need for help and asking for it. However, we need an additional educational support system to be widely publicised to signpost people and inform them of their entitlements. 'Entitled to' and 'Turn2Us' are just two of these sites which can do just that. But does everyone know about them? More so, can everyone access them? Perhaps a funded TV and radio/social media advertisement may help. Let’s spread the word and help solve this crisis.
