Support is available for people with immediate and acute financial needs, such as emergency accommodation, food and travel assistance.
Our emergency relief service also provides support with referral to other social and emotional health services at Nunkuwarrin Yunti, as well as information, referral and advocacy to services provided by other agencies.
Types of assistance
The following are examples of the types of Emergency Relief assistance that we can provide to people in acute need:
- Transport vouchers and bus tickets;
- Support to access accommodation;
- Advocacy to negotiate with power, water and other utilities companies;
- Material help such as food hampers or clothing, occasionally food or clothing vouchers;
- Toiletries and personal hygiene items;
- Providing brokering or referral to other services to help to address underlying causes of financial crisis e.g.: financial counselling.
All of our emergency relief support is dependent on the number of items such as vouchers, tickets etc that we have available.
Support not provided by Emergency Relief
- Payment of any type of fines and infringement notices (parking fines, traffic infringement notices, including speeding fines etc.)
- Payments to any type of lending agency or pawnbroker to retrieve goods (Cash Converters etc.)
- Cash payments
Criteria for assistance
Funding is limited so we must be careful to ensure support is provided to those who are most in need. Below are some considerations that determine whether, or to what extent, we can provide assistance:
- We prioritise exceptional and unforeseen circumstances that are outside of the control of the client and that require immediate assistance, or where funds are not able to be sourced from another agency
- Assistance can be refused on the basis of evidence of previous assistance within a reasonably short time frame
- We have a nominal limit of 3 episodes of assistance per year where food vouchers, or contribution to bill payments, or other significant financial assistance is provided
How to access Emergency Relief
To make an appointment, you can:
Come in and see us at 182 – 190 Wakefield Street Adelaide, or
Call (08) 8406 1600, or
Fax (08) 8232 0949
If the Emergency Relief worker is not available when you call or visit, they will try to meet with you or phone you back within the hour.
Please be patient if there are a number of people already waiting for assistance. We seek to get the best possible understanding of individual needs and we put the time and effort into providing the best possible support.
