April 03, 2023
Citizens Advice Bureau fighting funding cuts
The head of Auckland’s Citizens Advice Bureau says the city’s most vulnerable people will suffer the most if Auckland Council removes its funding.
Mayor Wayne Brown wants to defund the service started by the Auckland City Council more than 50 years ago so he can save $2 million a year.
Kate Anderson says last year the 32 offices around the city got 163-thousand enquiries and requests for assistance – and most of those came from vulnerable ethnic communities, and women.
“Our whakapapa is we set up in a community, by a community, for a community – so most of our CAB’s across the city keep that close link, and they’re supporting the people where they are. So down south there are a lot of Maori and Pasifika people. In our Mt Roskill branch there would be a lot of Indian and Asian people – so it does change across the city,” she says.
Ms Anderson says every dollar invested in Citizens Advice, the social value benefit was more than ten times that in stress and anxiety relief – and even cost savings from people being able to avoid paying for expensive professional advice.