The Catholic Weekly 31 July 2022

CHARITIES ARE seeing re- cord numbers of first-time clients and are giving away increasing amounts of do- nations despite Australi- ans being, on average, the fourth richest people in the world. In the last financial year the St Vincent de Paul So- ciety has seen a marked in- crease in both the amount of donations going out, and the intensity of stress expe- rienced by clients. Assistance provided by St Vincent de Paul Society conferences increased 25 per cent over the last finan- cial year. Tragically, twenty-six per cent of Vinnies clients are first-timers. A quarter are First Nations people, over a third use Jobseeker as their main source of in- come, and 85 per cent are given food. Housing stress affects 55 per cent of clients – mean- ing they spend more than 30 per cent of their income on rent or other housing costs. These shocking sta- tistics, provided to The Catholic Weekly by a St Vincent de Paul spokes- person, show the ongoing effects of inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic. “Behind the stats are real people and real struggles for those we are called to assist,” said St Vincent de Paul Soci- ety Sydney Central Pres- ident, Tony Cranney. “Until you meet them in their homes or where they live, the real story is not known. “By building a relation- ship and their trust we then might recognise the face of Christ and better understand the challenges and hardship they face on a daily basis.” A new re- port from the Australian Council of Social Servic- es shows that despite our wealth, more and more Australians may find themselves visiting the lo- cal Vinnies conference. The Wealth Inequality Pandemic, released on 22 July by ACOSS in partner- ship with academics from the University of NSW, found that Australian households are the fourth richest in the world. Rapidly rising property values played a large part, accounting for over two- thirds of the increase in household wealth during the pandemic. Yet the bottom 40 per cent of households hold risky levels of debt over three times their annu- al income, with the same amount lacking the sav- ings to cover three weeks of lost income. Wealth inequality is stark: the majority of Australians, the lowest 60 per cent, possess just 17 per cent of all wealth in Australia. But our 130 billionaires had a very different year when com- pared to the typical Vin- nies client, increasing their wealth on average by $395 million each. The top 10 per cent of Australians averaged $6.1 million in household wealth, or 46 per cent of all wealth. “This research also points to the precarious- ness of life for people on low incomes in Australia, 39 per cent of who are una- ble to cover three weeks of lost income, and the need to bolster the social safety net so that unemployment does not inevitably lead to poverty,” said acting ACOSS CEO, Edwina Mac- Donald. ALMS RACE Out charities are besieged by increasingly stressed Australians desperate for assistance SUNDAY 31 July, 2022 CatholicWeekly The www.catholicweekly.com.au THE CHURCH. ALL OF IT THE UNITY OF FAITH AND SCIENCE 5 MORE FOR THE HARVEST P14-15 $2 Behind the stats are real people ... Until you meet them in their homes or where they live, the real story is not known. Tony Cranney, St Vincent de Paul Sydney P25 A Society of St Vincent de Paul worker sorts goods at the Society’s Packing Centre inWest Ryde. Like other Australian charities, the Society is experienc- ing record numbers of requests for help. PHOTO: SUPPLIED