Two Dunedin youth charities said funding cuts were resulting in a reduction of service provision, with a third struggling to stretch available funding to meet people’s needs.
Dunedin youth charity Rock Solid had reduced its four youth programmes to three due to decreased funding from community sources.
Programme manager Martin Hannah said central government funding cuts meant there was more pressure on pots of community funds.
Earlier this month, it was revealed that the charities Mirror Services and Anglican Family Care both suffered funding cuts from the government child agency Oranga Tamariki.
Rock Solid had lost a member of staff and reduced the hours of its seven part-time staff to 12 hours a week. Some staff had previously worked more than 20 hours a week.
Mr Hannah said it was "tough across the board." He was being forced to deliver one of the charity’s South Dunedin programmes for 15 to 19 year-olds himself, with no funding.
Another Dunedin charity, Southern Youth Development was suffering after its funding from the Ministry of Youth Development’s Akonga fund came to an end.
It meant that a service which aimed to help young people who are not in school or are unemployed had to be cut back.
The charity secured some funding from another source but the number of youth reached by the service has now been slashed by more than half. It is now reaching about 20 rangatahi a year compared with 42 previously.
General manager Garth Hassall said there was an increase in rangatahi in the community struggling with confidence, resilience and social anxiety.
Most of the rangatahi who went through the service — a ten-week alternative education programme for 14 to 18-year-olds — then returned to school, went to Otago Polytechnic, or began work.
The charity’s chairwoman Sara Walton said the charity’s biggest concern was that they saw an increase in young people needing help, and a decrease in funding and resources.
"We are finding it more difficult to meet the needs of young people".
Presbyterian Support Otago said government funding increasingly did not cover the cost of services needed.
Its money management service, Building Financial Capability, was funded by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and had a 30-strong waiting list.
In April, the MSD axed its funding for the Dunedin Budget Advisory Service.
The charity’s acting director of Family Works Debbie Gelling said she was "unexpectedly pleased" to hear this month that the charity’s Oranga Tamariki funding for social services had been extended for another three years but there was an issue of government contracts not fully covering the cost of services.
"In the current contracting environment, this shortfall is steadily growing," she said.
Ms Gelling was concerned that cuts in funding had a "very real impact on the ability for anyone needing help to access the support they need in time to avoid situations becoming dire".
Dunedin MP Rachel Brooking said she was concerned charities were not able to speak up against government cuts as much as they would like due to fear of having contracts cut entirely.
Ms Brooking said Minister for Children Karen Chhour was saying in parliament that charities’ funding was being cut by Oranga Tamariki due to their services not being impactful, but had not supported her claims with evidence.
Ms Chhour declined to comment on Ms Brooking's remarks.
