The ACT's community sector will receive a $26 million funding boost in the territory budget.
Homelessness programs will get the largest chunk of the funding, with the government to spend $8.6 million on specialist services that were established last year in response to COVID-19 pandemic.
Minister for Homelessness Rebecca Vassarotti said the funding would be spread across all specialist homelessness services and would raise the base funding rate for sector organisations by 12.7 per cent.
"This is the first time that services have had an increase in their base funding for almost a decade," Ms Vassarotti said.
"It's a really significant injection and it really is in recognition of the demand that services have been facing.
"Absolutely, because of the pandemic but this has been something that has been building for some time in terms of the demand that services are seeing, as well as some of the issues that they're dealing with."
Ms Vassarotti said part of the funding would go towards services providing crisis accommodation, transitional accommodation and people fleeing domestic violence.
She said much of the funding had been planned prior to the pandemic.
The government will also give $2.5 million to Legal Aid ACT to boost capacity, including front-line support for victims of family violence, the elderly and for vulnerable witnesses. There will also be $2 million given to the Community Legal Assistance Sector.
A culturally appropriate program to focus on suicide prevention, intervention, postvention and aftercare tailored for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders will receive $2.2 million.
There will also be $509,000 given to the team responsible for developing the ACT government's community recovery roadmap.
"We know the pandemic is difficult for many families and individuals in the community," Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
"This is why the government is continuing to work very closely with community organisations across a range of sectors."
The ACT budget will be handed down on October 6, after it was delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Legislative Assembly passed amendments to the Financial Management Act on Thursday morning which allowed for the delay.
The ACT Council of Social Services welcomed the announcement, chief executive Dr Emma Campbell said the funding for homelessness was especially significant.
"The additional funding acknowledges the ongoing housing and homelessness crisis in Canberra which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic," Dr Campbell said.
"We look forward to further announcement in next month's ACT budget to address the shortage of affordable rentals and other community priorities."
