THE rising cost of living is being felt severely in the district, with some people losing stable housing and having to forgo meals to stretch their budget.

Support workers who see the hardest hit every day say they are regularly hearing stories of people only eating one or two meals a day, being evicted from their homes, or moving into overcrowded rentals.

And the organisations say they are now helping people who never needed help in the past.

Most people paying household bills, rent, or doing grocery shopping recently have felt the pinch, but residents on low incomes, pensioners and people on welfare payments are being hard hit.

Going into winter, local welfare support organisations are concerned there are no forthcoming solutions or relief from governments that will help keep people fed and off the streets.

The Salvation Army Portland branch on Henty Street has a broad scope for helping the homeless and people in need, offering food, vouchers, counselling and financial support.

Currently they are in the middle of annual major fundraiser the Red Shield Appeal which runs through to the end of the month, and are asking the community to support them through a major jump in demand for their services.

Winter is always a tough time for people struggling to make ends meet, but the Salvos have also seen problems escalating with rising costs this year.

Branch captain Peter Stamp said that many people are not able to stretch their budget far enough at the moment, and are running out of money before their next wage or payment.

The increase in welfare payments through the COVID lockdowns meant people on assistance were able to properly cover their costs, but now back to reduced payments, Mr Stamp said people have been coming to them who have never needed help before.

“They're getting to the last couple of days and that's when they're running out of groceries or they're not having enough money to actually do efficient grocery shop to get enough food,” he said.

For some people in Portland, Mr Stamp said, three meals a day is a luxury that is no longer affordable.

“When prices go up like this, they are in the difficult decisions to make sacrifices one way or another, either overspend on shopping and the roll-on effects of that, or to go without.”

As a result, the Salvos are struggling to keep the shelves of their food bank full, with more people needing to rely on it, more regularly.

“People are budgeting roughly $140 for a fortnightly shop, which is, as I think everyone who does the shopping would know, nothing.”

A shortage of food donations to organisations like Foodbank have meant the Salvos are not getting their regular bulk food deliveries to give out.

“It has this massive flow on effect, sometimes we do have good supplies, but the pantry is very bare at the moment.”

Youth worker Briony Harrison in the Portland Brophy Family and Youth Services office said that along with other costs, she has noticed a significant number of the under 25s that she works with who are struggling to pay rent in the last few months.

Brophy has recently added a youth housing support intake role for Portland and Hamilton, who has been run off her feet with new referrals.

“People are in rental arrears, and there is not enough here to help them,” Ms Harrison said.

“With the amount of people who are relying on public housing because they can't afford the private rental market, they're not seeing much movement in public housing, it means the waitlist keeps growing.

According to reaestate.com.au analysis of its listings, in the last 12 months the average rent listed has gone up 6.7% in Portland to a median of $400 per week.

In the past month, the website recorded 168 “serious renters” looking for a house, with 37 houses available in the same period.

The maximum rental assistance available is $157.20 per fortnight for a single person on income support, or $148 for a couple, while single parents with one or two children can receive a maximum of $184.94.

Not everyone is feeling the sting from rent - of the 4596 occupied dwelling (88.7% of total dwellings) in Portland counted in the census 41.2% are owned outright (compared to 31% nationally), 30.9% are owned with a mortgage and 24.8% are rented.

Meanwhile, work continues on the 51 public housing dwellings across two locations in Portland, being built by the State Government for women facing homelessness.

The first of of two- and three-bedroom homes are expected to be ready to move into from the end of the year, with the rest through into mid-2024.

Ms Harrison said young people are being forced to couch surf for extended periods waiting for an affordable rental to come up, while families are moving in together, in overcrowded situations to cover their costs.

A large part of Brophy’s operations is as the local distributer of the No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) to people on a low income, but while it can be used to cover rental bond, loans are not available for rent assistance.

“That’s an ongoing payment, it could just put people even further behind the eight-ball having to pay that back as well.”

Also contributing to the problem, Ms Harrison said, is the 90 plus houses or apartments in Portland listed on short term holiday stay website Airbnb, plus other unrented holiday houses.

“They would otherwise be used as rental, which would help keep rent down.”

What Brophy staff and the Salvos agree on is that there is no significant relief in sight for the issue.

“I’d like to think there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Mr Stamp said.

“At some point the government might decide to step up and put in a significant increase (of welfare payments) for people.

“I don’t hold too high hopes for that, but what always comes through is the generosity from the community.”