YOUNG families in growth areas are turning to support services as job cuts begin to bite, according to the Wyndham City Salvation Army.
Unmanageable mortgages, soaring costs
of living and ballooning unemployment across Melbourne’s west are also sending residents spiralling into debt, as new figures show Wyndham has among the highest number of bankruptcies in Victoria.
As reported in the Weekly, the 3029 postcode, which includes Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit
and Truganina, was listed by Insolvency and Trustee Services Australia as the third-worst
area for bankruptcies over the last financial year, with 67.
It was closely followed by postcode 3030, covering Werribee and Point Cook, which had 57 bankruptcies.
The main reasons for seeking bankruptcy were unemployment and excessive use of credit.
Wyndham City Salvos’ Sue Brookshaw said the Werribee branch had noticed a spike in the number of young families from areas like Point Cook seeking help.
“The problem at the moment is people have such high mortgages that they’re finding it impossible to cope with them, and coupled with job losses when times turn tough, they just can’t meet their repayments,” she said.
“We’re getting more and more young families coming into seek help, and a real increase in people coming from the Point Cook area, who have never been on welfare up until now.”
The service provided emergency food relief to more than 20 people a day, but was struggling to cater for growing demand. “We’re turning away a lot more people than we can physically fit in, and we’ve got people wanting us to be able to pay bills for them and provide financial counselling, which we can’t do,” Ms Brookshaw said. She urged governments to provide more funding to help the growing number of battlers in the west.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics the area’s unemployment rate has jumped to 7.5per cent, far higher than the state average of 5per cent.
