A councillor has made an impassioned plea against funding cuts planned for an Evelyn  housing and employment advice centre, warning people were “going to die”.

Evelyn 190 was one of the 13 organisations which will no longer be funded from August.

Lewisham Council has allocated £2.9 million to dozens of community organisations for the next three years.

But Lewisham was concerned at Evelyn 190’s financial position and its over-dependence on council funding.

Evelyn Ward Councillor Silvana Kelleher said the centre was “invaluable” and asked the mayor and cabinet to reconsider the decision to stop funding the service £175,000.

“Our most vulnerable residents are continually being forced to tribunal over their benefits etcetera, and without that face to face they are going to die and we have a manifesto commitment to prevent that,” she said.

Cabinet member for Community Sector Cllr Jonathan Slater said the service could play a role in Advice Lewisham consortium, an association of advice agencies in Lewisham which had been allocated funding.

“The door is not closed on Evelyn 190. Although we are going to be funding the citizens advice Lewisham consortium I am going to organise a meeting between Citizens Advice Lewisham and Evelyn 190 to see if there is still a role for that organisation to work together in the consortium so you have got my promise on that.”

Cabinet member for health and adult social care, Cllr Chris Best, said allocating the funding had been a “very difficult decision.”

She said the council would try and support groups who had seen their funding cut in other ways, including helping them find funding elsewhere.

“You can see the number of groups the in the past we have been delighted to support, [and we are] reaching out to see what other support we can give them and other endorsements.”