Short-term funding stops community service providers from investing in safe, effective, future-ready services. Photo: Supplied.
Community services are being asked to meet rising community needs with a short-term, unstable funding system that is out of sync with our challenges.
Instead of reliable, long-term investment, essential community services are often faced with uncertainty, relying on contracts that stretch just a year or two ahead and often arrive late. This creates uncertainty for staff, for community programs, and those who are dependent on them.
Woden Community Service (WCS) is one of many Canberra-based providers who respond to complex, long-term issues, including housing instability, mental health challenges, ageing and social isolation. And yet, community organisations are required to address systemic social problems, often while operating under contracts that barely extend beyond the immediate term.
Confirmation of renewed funding can be received only weeks or days before funding is due to end, leaving little room for security of tenure for staff, program continuity, or strategic growth and sustainability.
While the 2025-26 Federal Budget expands some grant programs, it does not tackle fundamental issues of late funding announcements or insecure contract lengths. Until these systemic challenges are addressed, community providers remain trapped in a reactive posture, responding to funding cycles instead of planning for long-term impact.
This has broader consequences, because the social issues we are trying to address escalate when support is too limited or arrives too late, and the reputational costs fall back on the community providers. This sector dynamic puts frontline workers under pressure and undermines public trust in a sector already stretched to its limits.
The real loss is capacity. Short-term funding stops us from investing in safe, effective and future-ready services. This includes training and retaining skilled staff, developing strong systems, and building the infrastructure that allows services to adapt and grow.
These aren’t luxuries; they are necessities.
The ACT Government has recognised some of these issues through a $2.4 million commitment to developing a Community Sector Partnership Framework. However, we are entering the final year of that initiative, and the sector is still waiting for meaningful, structural reform. Consultation must now translate into practical, long-term change.
WCS remains focused on delivering consistent, supportive connections through every service we offer, from early education, community programs, aged care, and more.
Community services are not a ‘nice to have’. They are a critical social infrastructure. They are the glue that holds communities together. If Canberra seeks to meet the future with resilience and compassion, effort is required to address how community services are funded. The current model leaves too much to chance.
A funding system built for flexibility, organisational stability and foresight is not a radical ask – it is a necessary one. The new ACT and Commonwealth Governments have the opportunity to make it real.
Leanne Heald has worked within the community service sector for government and community-based organisations in Canberra and Western Australia for nearly 20 years. Specialising in mental health, disability and community outreach, she has supported vulnerable community members in accessing the support they need to thrive.
