Sonny Barlow (left) and Azian Zulkifli with Kiritahi Firmin and the new fridge delivered by Te Oranganui youth volunteers. Photo /Bevan Conley
Rising living costs alongside an increase in Covid-19 Omicron cases in the community has created something of a "perfect storm" for low-income people in the region.
Whanganui community support agencies are providing a range of services to assist those affected.
"There are a lot of good agencies and a lot of good people in this region," Whanganui Budget Advisory Service manager Sandy Fage said.
"There is no shame and no judgement attached to asking for help. Most people who work for support agencies have lived experience of hardship so the empathy is genuine and the needs are understood."
Fage said she was concerned that people were turning to buy-now, pay-later schemes to pay for necessities such as food.
"It really is a perfect storm for people on low incomes right now but seek help and get guidance before using those services," she said.
Fage said while people in the Whanganui region were experiencing the pressures of rising food and transport costs, accommodation costs continued to increase.
"I don't know why landlords are pushing rents up when they know tenants are facing so many other increases," she said.
"I know a guy who has moved from Auckland and purchased three rental properties here. He is charging affordable rents of around $250 a week because he knows that's in the affordable range and he wants to keep good tenants."
Landlord's Link manager Tracey Onishenko said her company would not raise rents like some landlords she had noticed in the Whanganui area.
She said some were putting prices up with the assumption that the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) would cover the balance with accommodation benefits if a tenant came up short.
"We don't deal with them with our company but a lot of those owners, they don't care who they put in, they just want maximum return," Onishenko said.
"We would rather have a fair price a family can afford, that's not crazy."
Whanganui People's Centre manager Sharon Semple said the scarcity of affordable housing also remained the number one concern for her agency.
"Rents are still increasing and it is almost impossible for a single person on a low income to be able to afford to live on their own in Whanganui now," she said.
"It's great that benefit payments have increased but living costs will still be unaffordable for a lot of the people we work with. Many have reached that tipping point where they are faced with the decision to either pay their rent or buy food because they can't afford to do both."
Semple said even with excellent support from MSD staff and wraparound support from other agencies, some people simply could not meet their living costs if they couldn't find affordable accommodation.
She said the accommodation supplement payments had a threshold which was currently $70 for a single person.
Jigsaw Whanganui executive officer Tim Metcalfe said his team had noticed a marked rise in basic living costs for many of the families they engaged with in Whanganui, Rangitīkei and Ruapehu.
"Some have experienced very significant rent increases. In a couple of cases families have had to move themselves to other housing. Emergency housing is absolutely saturated," he said.
Metcalfe said families were searching around for specials on very basic items such as milk and bread and spending a lot of time going from one supermarket to another.
"Buying meat, fresh fruit and vegetables are just out of the question for many families; meals are very basic – mainly noodles. Families who usually manage well are reaching out to the food bank and, for some, there is a great deal of shame and guilt – a sense that they should be able to do better."
Metcalfe said families isolating due to Covid-19 had been receiving food parcels from iwi health and social service provider Te Oranganui.
The Government has increased social welfare support in response to the spread of Omicron and extra funding has been provided to food banks and regional community agencies. The support is co-ordinated through a 24-hour helpline (0800 512 337) where people get initial help for urgent needs, with more complex needs being co-ordinated by local providers.
Te Oranganui and the Whanganui City Mission food bank are the designated providers in Whanganui, with other providers based in Rangitīkei, Ruapehu and South Taranaki.
City Mission food bank manager Karrie Brown said the demand for food parcels had grown while staff were also juggling the workload around their own safety.
"We've worked out a roster where half our team is based at home while the other half are onsite and we switch around to minimise the risk of us catching the virus," she said.
"It has been challenging because some of our volunteers had to stand down due to their vulnerability and we have had to reduce our contact with the public. We are working with MSD and the Whanganui DHB response teams to help with distribution."
Community and church groups are also helping with the distribution of free food, clothing and other essential items in Whanganui.
The Koha Shed in Duncan St, Whanganui East, offers free household goods and clothing from Tuesday to Thursday and is also offering soup, buns and food items on Fridays.
The Koha Food Collective, launched in Whanganui East last year, runs a weekly free supermarket at the All Saints Hall in Moana St every Friday afternoon.
Co-ordinator Azian Zulkifli said around 200 people were regularly "shopping" each week and the demand had been growing.
"Our focus is on children and families but everyone is welcome," she said.
"The cost of living is putting so much pressure on everyone and we wanted to help by providing free food and giving people the option to 'shop' for what they need."
Food is provided by Palmerston North food rescue group Just Zilch and local bakeries, supermarkets and individuals also contribute. All the staff are volunteers and Whanganui Anglicans provide use of the hall for a few hours every Friday.
"We welcome donations of produce from people's gardens and tinned food," Zulkifli said.
"We are changing our hours now that daylight saving is ending. From now on, we'll be setting up from 12.30pm to 3pm when people can drop off donations and the supermarket will be open from 3.30pm until 5pm because everyone wants to get home before dark as the days get shorter."
Zulkifli said Whanganui was a great place for collaboration and the collective recently received a fridge donated by Kiritahi Firmin of the Kimiora Trust and delivered by volunteers from Te Oranganui youth programme.
Donated food is also shared in a reciprocal way between Te Ora Hou, Whanganui's Kai Hub group and the City Mission foodbank.
Whanganui MP Steph Lewis said it was hard to see people struggling and she hoped the Government's latest measures would help ease the pressure.
"Unfortunately the things we can't control - the pandemic and the war in Ukraine - are affecting things like shipping costs and supply lines," she said.
"Benefit increases and the reduction of fuel excise and road user charges are things we can control. The winter energy payments begin on May 1 and they can be up to $700 over the season. I know some people will still be struggling to make ends meet despite those supports so I urge anyone who needs extra support to contact MSD as a starting point and they can contact my office as well."
Te Tai Hauāuru MP Adrian Rurawhe said the Government's aim was to target money where it was most needed.
Te Tai Hauāuru electorate covers a vast area of the western North Island from South Waikato down to Porirua. Rurawhe said he was encouraged by positive signs of growth he was seeing in the southern end of his electorate and in Whanganui in particular.
"It is great to see a rise in employment - especially for young people and for Māori youth. A number of rangatahi in my extended whānau left school last year and they have all found jobs which is a very positive sign for them and the Whanganui economy."
Rurawhe said the affordable housing shortage in the district was a difficulty that was taking a long time to address and it had been hard to replace the public housing stock that was sold to the private sector by the previous government.
"There have been so many delays that we can't control but we know that the affordable housing shortage in Whanganui is a priority."
Rangitīkei MP Ian McKelvie said although superannuitants had received a boost of $52 per fortnight for a single person and $80 for a couple, they would not get the extra entitlements that some other beneficiaries would be eligible for.
"They are facing the same cost increases as others who are dependent on Government payments but they won't be getting any extras other than the annual general adjustment increase," he said.
McKelvie said it wasn't worth debating whether the Government's Covid-19 responses had pushed up inflation.
"It's done now and we have to look at how people can pay their bills. There are a lot of seasonal and contract workers such as shearers and agricultural workers in my electorate and they have been hard hit as well."
Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, who is based in South Taranaki, said a revision of the tax system was needed to address inequality in Aotearoa.
"Te Pāti Māori policy is to shift the tax burden from the poor to the rich," she said.
"We would do this through wealth taxes including on capital gains, ghost [empty] houses, pollution and land value. We would provide tax relief to low-income whānau while improving the progressive nature of the tax system, including by exempting food and sanitary items from GST.
"We will release a fully costed tax policy package in the lead up to the 2023 election."
Whanganui-based National list MP Harete Hipango was also contacted for comment.
'We do our best but we are in extremely difficult times.'