ACT Cost of Living Report, 2017

In this report ACTCOSS tracks changes in the cost of living, particularly for low income households in the Australian Capital Territory.

The report finds that key costs of living continued to rise for low income households in the ACT. It finds that the general cost of living in the ACT increased above the national rate while the cost of living for low income households rose at a higher level than other households. Housing and other essential costs are not easing for people on low incomes and this creates significant pressures on already constrained household budgets. Small increases over the past year in the base rates for key income support payments have not kept up with rising living costs over the same period. Newstart and Youth Allowance remain particularly inadequate, with payments being 25.7 per cent and 18.9 per cent of the poverty line, respectively.