New statistics mapping poverty in Victoria show a drop in regional poverty, including the Macedon Ranges, but social service expert warns it does not show the real figures.
The Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) recently released the Mapping poverty in Victoria report highlighting what they found and how it can be fixed.
The Macedon Ranges recorded 4407 people living in poverty, which equates to 9.3 per cent of the population.
VCOSS chief executive Emma King said while regional Victoria has seen a drop in poverty, the figures do not show the impacts of city residents moving regional and exacerbating regional poverty.
“We’re seeing people from Melbourne move out to those areas [and] locals can’t afford to live there any more,” Ms King said.
“This distorts the date with people living further out and cannot afford where they were living beforehand.
“Glorious Macedon Ranges. People were keen to move out there. They could not go five kilometres. There was more space and people could work from home and would like to live there.
“Those areas are not affordable.”
According to the poverty report, action needs to include housing affordability, the cost of living, benefits increase, investment in evidence-based interventions, targeted supports and long-term systemic funding to build on community strengths.
The report also found that Hume had the highest levels of children under the age of 15 living in poverty in Melbourne.
Throughout the municipality, there are 46,684 people living in poverty, which is the second highest in the state only behind Casey. The overall poverty rate of 20.6 per cent is the highest in the state and the highest poverty levels of kids under the age of 15.
Ms King said it was alarming and can have serious long term effects.
“What it means is that parents are struggling to put food on the table,” she said. “At school if they need an iPad their parents can not pay for it.
“They are getting left behind in every part of life and it shows. in areas where more than one third of children are living in poverty, it’s alarming.
“They are more likely to drop out of high school. We need to support people to help them strive and thrive, which is really tough.”
