SaltCare has spent years helping others, now it's time for the Government to help them

Shoalhaven charity 'SaltCare' is pleading for Government funding to allow them to continue their good work with the community to help the less fortunate by giving them food, clothing and shelter.

CEO of the not-for-profit, Peter Dover along with his team of support workers have spent their professional careers helping others who need it most.

However, the team at SaltCare feel forgotten by Federal and State Government, as the charity desperately need funding to keep their good work going, otherwise Mr Dover will regrettably have to start letting support workers go.

"This is something I do not want to have to do," he said.

"But if I don't start receiving funding within the next month, I'm going to have to."

The not-for-profit has been an enormous success, with a business model that gets the homeless of the street and a roof over their head.

Homeless people in the Shoalhaven reach out to Mr Dover and the team at SaltCare, or they are referred to them by the local council.

Once in contact with the team, it does not take long for Mr Dover to get to work.

He will start by placing the individual, or in some cases, homeless family in his homeless shelter and soon after, places them into a house.

But with the current housing market, how does Mr Dover do it?

"What we do is we go and approach people who may have a holiday home, an extra house or something in that sphere, we use the house, rent it out to the homeless people and we guarantee the owners an income and maintenance on the property," he said.

"We have 33 houses which we use from investors with this model and after three years, we have never had one taken away."

READ MORE:

Getting these people in a home is important, as it allows them to take back control of their life.

Mr Dover said there are numerous success stories from this as a result of SaltCare.

"Recently, we had a family where both parents were disabled and their four kids were disabled," he said.

"They were being kicked out of their house and had no where to go.

"We got them into one of our 33 houses and now the mum has a manager job and they're getting their life back on track."

Mr Dover is desperate for funding to keep this program going, as it is the support workers which he needs most to keep helping the community.

Support workers at SaltCare do more than just putting homeless people in a home - their tasks range from giving out 3000 food hampers a week to those who need food, giving out clothing, running the homeless shelter, running the transitional home and maintaining the 33 homes.

Should Mr Dover have to lay off some of these workers as a result of no Government funding, the not-for-profit will become harder to run.

"I've had conversations with Government officials that aren't getting us anywhere," he said.

"The simple fact is, we need funding.

"There is a homeless and housing crisis in the Shoalhaven, SaltCare works and with more funding, we can get more houses to help solve this crisis."

According to Mr Dover, there are 1000 unused houses in the Shoalhaven.

Mr Dover believes given the correct amount of funding, SaltCare would be able to acquire 500 homes from the Shoalhaven down to the Victorian border.

"This would turn the tide in the Shoalhaven housing crisis," Mr Dover said.

Having recently met with the Shoalhaven City Council Mayor, Amanda Findley to gain her support, Mr Dover will next meet with Eurobodalla-Shire Council Mayor Matt Hatcher before finally meeting with Federal Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips.

"I'm hoping to get the support of all government at a local, state and federal level so we can finally start to get funding to keep SaltCare going," he said.

"SaltCare works and with current cost of living circumstances, the community needs us."