Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter (NBWS) could lose one of its only external sources of funding, as its grant with Northern Beaches Council is set to expire.
The charity’s funding-fate will be before Council at their monthly meeting today, 17 February 2026 with a clear recommendation from Council that funding not continue the way it has since it was supported pre-amalgamation by Manly Council.
Councillors will decide whether to continue incorporating almost $70,000 of funding into the budget or to end the longstanding agreement. Our current understanding is that the majority will vote to cease the existing support.
This would represent a small proportion of its yearly income but still represents about 10% of its operating budget.
The money is one of the only external sources of funding the shelter receives and is critical in ensuring vulnerable women and children are housed, according to NBWS CEO Narelle Hand, “We housed 273 women last year. This year, we’re going to be up around 400 which means there’s going to be like, 400 people that need to access outreach care,” she told Manly Observer at one of the shelter’s locations.
“I’m already turning 58 away… it’s a lot. It’s stressful, but I will not give up.”
The women’s shelter is not the only charity on the chopping block. LocalKind and Burdekin Association (Beaches Hub) are also facing having their historic funding pulled.
But why?
The rationale behind the cuts is two-fold: the services aren’t part of Council’s core responsibility – housing is a state responsibility – and Council wants to move to a smaller grants-based model only. It’s part of the belt-tightening Council has stated is necessary as part of rising costs. The model discussed previously shows smaller amounts granted to more local organisations who apply for the funds. We’ve covered this extensively here.
As the report to Council being voted on tonight states, “The ongoing,
significant funding of direct services, except for small grants for specific projects, is not traditionally the role of local government.”
significant funding of direct services, except for small grants for specific projects, is not traditionally the role of local government.”
Although it’s only NBWS under review tonight, Greens Councillor Kristyn Glanville has flagged an amendment to extend funding for two additional years for all the charities on the grant, plus establish a new ongoing large grant program.
“The funding runs out in June. And so basically this report is just telling us about the funding that we have provided and full stop. And I guess unless the Councillors do something, the default is that there would be no further funding provided,” she said.
Councillor Glanville says she and her fellow Greens colleagues, Councillors Ethan Hrnjak and Bonnie Harvey, are in support of her amendment.
Other Councillors have also shared their stance with us on the topic with Councillor Miranda Korzy stating she thinks residents will want to see funding stay at the shelter in the meantime, but believes there needs to be a fairer process set up for Council’s social services grants, “The shelter turns away hundreds of women every year – so they can use every cent the Council gives them,” she said.
While Councillor Nicholas Beaugeard states the current system is “not good governance,” and that there needs to be a merit-based system to mirror the process of every other grant.
Council states the $280,000 grant stems from a pre-amalgamation agreement with no current legal or jurisdictional obligation. They’ve argued that the State Government should provide the funding instead.
Why Is This Happening Now?
This is not the first time the grant was almost suspended. In 2023, Council decided to reallocate funding to a larger number of groups, reducing allocations to the three current charities.
However, those groups were still permitted to apply for smaller grants through a competitive process alongside other organisations. Under the new funding model, selected groups were eligible for up to $50,000 per year.
Major political and public backlash was met with this decision, as the proposition was initially put forward and was voted on without prior notice. As a result, Council decided to unanimously reverse the move and the original funding was provided until June 2026.
For that vote, however, the women from the shelter were able to speak to councillors directly before the vote and emotions swayed the councillor decision. As of 2026, the public can no longer speak at Council meetings.
The New Plan
Councillor Glanville’s amendment will look to reimplement the grant feature, but on a larger scale to ensure steadier financial planning. “Those sorts of $15,000 grants [Offered in 2023] require an enormous amount of work to seek, but they’re not actually big enough to make long-term decisions… I think the most effective use of the money is just to have three larger grants and enable the organisation to actually have some kind of continuity and be able to financially plan properly.”
The representative of Curl Curl Ward went to say, personally, she would like to see the funding continue to go to NBWS. Though a compromise may need to be made as other Councillors prefer a traditional tender approach.
The Women’s Shelter receives $68,500 from Council, almost $63,500 from the State Government and raises around $2 million itself in fundraising, annually, though it assures every dollar is spent on the community and women.
The shelter CEO explained:
“What a small pocket of seed funding does sometimes is instead of helping, it hurts, because you give someone money and then they can’t continue on to provide that service, and either the money is wasted or you set them up to fail if they can’t financially sustain themselves,” she said.
“Isn’t it better to give to organisations that have good governance, that you know have proven results, that are supporting people who are very vulnerable in their community?”
Manly Observer has reached out to LocalKind for their comment, but are yet to hear back. Beaches Hub say they will refrain from commenting until their report is heard in front of Council in a few months.
It is not yet known if Council will redistribute the funding to other charities or pull it altogether.
The matter will be determined at a meeting of Council tonight at the chambers in Dee Why after 6pm. You can view the agenda in full here, with the shelter funding discussed from page 60.
