Albany’s Pivot Support Services to lead Great Southern COVID-19 relief fund

An Albany-based community support service is gearing up to launch a relief fund to help people across the Great Southern face the long-lasting impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, after securing a boost of more than $500,000 from the State Government. With the demand for community-based support organisations expected to soar over the coming months, the State Government, through Lotterywest, has established the COVID-19 Relief Fund. Backed by 21 organisations from across the region, Pivot Support Services will next month begin to roll out three types of support for people facing hardship as a result of the pandemic. Pivot will lead a steering committee made up of members of the Great Southern Human Services Forum and the Albany Aboriginal Corporation to reach out to people living across the Great Southern, including around Katanning, Gnowangerup and Tambellup. Pivot Support Services manager Ian Neil said modelling indicated demand for crisis support would peak around Christmas after State and Federal Government stimulus packages were wound back. “The people who will be affected by this are the people who have not necessarily contacted a community service in their lifetime,” he said. “Once the stimulus and government incentives are rolled back, it will expose the fact that there will be a significant increase in households living in housing stress.” Mr Neil said Pivot Support Services would work with other organisations to provide emergency relief in three ways: practical support; accommodation; and homelessness support. Practical support will include immediate relief through access to clothing, swags, bedding, food, hygiene products, fuel and transport costs, and short-term accommodation. Accommodation support will help clients facing housing stress as a result of COVID-19 to stay in their homes, and work with people to develop a plan to get back on their feet. A support service will help clients facing homelessness as a result of the pandemic by refurbishing properties across the region to make them available for people in crisis. Mr Neil said the crisis was far from over, and people grappling with disadvantage brought on by the pandemic should access support now. “The effects of COVID-19 will last for longer than two years, and in two years, as a result of COVID-19, there will be more people in entrenched disadvantage then there were at the start,” he said. Community Services Minister Simone McGurk said services like Pivot were vital. “Pivot Support Services provides important counselling and support to homeless and disadvantaged people in the Great Southern region,” she said. “They have had a key role in helping to address the needs of vulnerable people through the COVID-19 pandemic. “These funds will assist Pivot Support Services in providing emergency accommodation and other essential items such as food and clothing. “They will also enable Pivot to bring on additional staff to meet an increased demand for outreach programs.”