The 2020s have been “a decade of inflationary pain” for the ACT, as rising prices push more Canberrans into poverty and financial precarity, ACTCOSS’s cost-of-living report, published today, warns.

“[The report] paints a truly terrifying picture”, CEO Dr Devin Bowles said. “The cost of living is being ratcheted up every year, putting more and more households under pressure.”

Over the last five years, the cost of essential goods has increased faster than inflation, the report shows. Between 2020 and 2025, the price of automotive fuel increased by 48.6 per cent; education by 34.7 per cent; medical and hospital services by 25.6 per cent; utilities by 23.5 per cent; and food and beverages by 22.2 per cent.

“When critical necessities of life go up in price like this, people who are doing it toughest are put under unbearable pressure,” Dr Bowles said. “For families that were already at the margin … there’s nowhere to go. They have to choose between feeding and paying their kids’ school fees, between adequate food and health expenses.”

As a result, financial hardship is no longer restricted to people on income support; it now encompasses full-time workers struggling to meet basic needs, Amy Kilpatrick, CEO of Care Financial Counselling, said.

JobSeeker recipients are below the poverty line, trapped by poverty, Dr Bowles said, while Anglicare’s rental snapshot, published last month, shows that people on welfare payments cannot afford to rent in Canberra.

Students have dropped out of courses because classes conflict with the only time food banks are open. “They literally have to choose between their future career and feeding themselves,” Dr Bowles said.

All of Canberra’s food relief providers say they have increased the services they deliver by up to 75 per cent in the past year. Some food relief providers support up to 100 families a day, Jean Giese, CEO of VolunteeringACT, said.

Housing is the largest driver of cost-of-living pressures in the ACT, the report states. The price of housing increased by 26.3 per cent between 2020 and 2025, while rental and mortgage payments are the single biggest expense for many households, Dr Bowles said.

ACTCOSS has urged both the ACT and federal governments to restore social housing to above 10 per cent by 2036. The proportion of social housing has fallen from 12 per cent of all housing to only 5.7 per cent, and housing peak body ACT Shelter warned last year that proportion is shrinking further. The high numbers of rough sleepers — once “not something you saw frequently here” — is a result of the decline in social housing, Dr Bowles argued.

As of 31 March, more than 3,550 people were waiting for public housing — including more than 1,930 people waiting three years for high needs housing, and nearly 1,500 people waiting five years for standard housing.

Utility costs are the second-biggest reason why people are financial hardship, Ms Kilpatrick said. First Nations people have the highest rates of utility disconnection and the highest debts, ranging between $10,000 and $15,000.

ACTCOSS has called on the ACT Government to

• Refresh the ACT Targeted Assistance Strategy, which allocates additional payments for people in crisis; this has not been reviewed since it was introduced in 2012.
• Review eligibility and payment rates for the ACT Electricity, Gas and Water Rebate.
• Provide ongoing funding for the food relief sector; and
• Re-introduce a one-off payment for people on low incomes who face eviction during financial hardship

ACTCOSS welcomed pre-budget announcements of additional funding for food relief and emergency rent assistance for people on low incomes.

“People are finding it tougher and tougher, so we’re really grateful for the additional assistance,” Dr Bowles said. But: “I’m not sure that it will be enough in the coming months.”

ACTCOSS has also called on the federal government to increase JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance, and related income support payments to parity with pension payments, indexing these payments to wages and prices at least twice a year; and to introduce supplementary payments to single parents and to people with disability and illness.

ACTCOSS was disappointed the government did not adjust income support payments more in this year’s budget.

The ACT Government has been asked for comment.