Salvation Army, Vinnies see 25 per cent rise in people struggling to meet cost-of-living demands

Since the beginning of the year, both the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul Society have recorded a 25 per cent increase in demand for their services.

Vincent de Paul Society Wagga president Peter Burgess said along with the rise, there are residents who have never had to ask for help coming forward in search of cost of living relief.

"In every aspect that we measure our business, it is increasing and I don't see an end to that," Mr Burgess said.

"A lot of that comes from increasing costs of living ... we're getting people coming in saying 'last night, I slept in my car with my two kids'."

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Mr Burgess said no one was immune to cost of living pressures.

"It's working people as well, in the past it was always about people on pensions or JobSeeker," he said.

"I haven't seen an increase like this, and it is people we wouldn't normally see ... it's a whole new group of people seeking help."

The Salvation Army's Doorways program coordinator Jen Cameron said since January 2 this year, the number of people who have asked for help due to high financial expenses and inadequate income has increased by 25 per cent.

"People are saying they've never received help before, they've never asked for it," Ms Cameron said.

"Comments like that are actually concerning."

Ms Cameron has taken a "phenomenal" amount of calls asking about Energy Accounts Payment Assistance vouchers, and is also worried that figure will increase once electricity prices rise by 20 per cent in July.

"Unless we see a dire change to the cost of living in the future, it's going to rise," she said.

"Rents aren't going to go down, and their payments aren't going to go up, so how do we sustain these people going forward?"

Centrelink payments are scheduled to increase with routine indexation, with pensioners set to receive an extra $37 per fortnight and JobSeeker payments to rise by $25.

Both Ms Cameron and Mr Burgess encouraged anyone who might need help to contact the Vinnies Micah Hub on 6921 7337 or Salvos Doorways on 1300 371 288.

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