Welfare services' prediction of a spike in demand brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has come true, some Newcastle providers say, with a noticeable increase in the number of people in need of help in recent weeks.
The Newcastle Herald reported two months ago that some providers in the Hunter were bracing for the economic impacts of the global health crisis to take hold in the community as businesses were forced to shut and many suddenly found themselves without an income.
Coronavirus has also presented significant challenges to those who were already doing it tough.
Dale, a 60-year-old man who has been sleeping rough in his car on and off for the past three years, said the COVID-19 restrictions made it harder for him to access help and look for accommodation.
He said he had been encouraged to use the internet rather than personally front up to offices - but he does not have online access.
"It's made things very, very difficult," he said.
Dale commended the work of Our Backyard - a Lake Macquarie service that gives homeless people a place to sleep in their cars as well as use laundry and bathroom facilities - for the help it had given him.
Meanwhile at Our Backyard, Pietro Di Girolamo - the project manager of the Macquarie Care initiative - said the organisation had been increasingly busy during the pandemic, with "new emerging vulnerable people coming to us for help".
"What I have seen is those people who have not been eligible for either JobSeeker or JobKeeper and fall through the gaps," he said of the service, which has branched out to also provide food for those in need.
"There have been young, middle-aged and elderly people come and visit us for help. Some have travelled as far as Cessnock to us in Cardiff."
Karen Soper, who manages St Vincent De Paul's Matthew Talbot hostel for homeless people, said she had noticed an increase in COVID-19-related referrals - many of them couch surfers who have had to move on as more people have been forced to work from home.
"COVID is bringing in normal people just like you and I," she said.
Samaritans CEO Brad Webb said his organisation had seen a "notable increase in demand" over the past week from people looking for energy account payment help and food parcels.
The inner city's Soul Cafe has seen a "significant increase" in demand for its pop-up pantry service, CEO Rick Prosser said.
"We are now helping individuals and families that are unique to our type of charity," he said.
"New faces are being welcomed every week."
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