While welcoming this month s benefit increase, a group of South Auckland budgeters say it is going to require more than a few dollars to fix the horrifying debt faced by so many of their clients.
From left: St Vincent de Paul s Ōtāhuhu centre s advocacy team Renee Joseph, Simon Collins, Alanah Bacon and Jordan Cooke.
Photo: LDR / Justin Latif
$30,000 - That s the average debt of one of St Vincent de Paul s Ōtāhuhu centre budgeting clients.
$400 - The going rate for a tiny cockroach infested room in one of the many boarding houses around Ōtāhuhu.
$278.50 - The new Jobseeker Support rate for a single adult over 25, an amount which was recently increased by $20. Most of the clients at Vinnies , as the budgeting and food bank service is colloquially known, also receive an extra $165 accommodation supplement and $83 temporary additional support payment.