Lord Mayor of Melbourne Nicholas Reece has explained why a Melbourne Salvation Army has missed out on millions of dollars in funding across a four year period.

He told 3AW Breakfast hosts Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft the money had been reallocated to St Vincent De Paul’s Ozanam House through an “open and independent” tender process.

Press PLAY to hear why Vinnies was given the funding over the Salvation Army

“I am obviously very, very sorry about that, that they missed out,” he said.

Images: Sam Tabone/GettyImages, @MelbourneSalvos614/Facebook