Joanna Quilty: NCOSS report finds people are crumbling under cost-of-living pressures

For people on low incomes, life has become an ongoing struggle to scrape together enough money for everyday essentials like food, healthcare, electricity, petrol and housing.

“Right now, based on my current financial status, I actually can’t afford to die. Unless I win $60 million in Powerball, this is what my life is.”

That is Sydney woman Rachel’s take on what it’s like to live in a city and a country that are fast becoming unliveable for many, as the price of life’s basics soars uncontrollably.

The cost of living in NSW is skyrocketing.

For people on low incomes or below the poverty line, life has become an ongoing struggle to scrape together enough money for everyday essentials like food, healthcare, electricity, petrol and for somewhere to live.

The NSW Council of Social Service’s new report Tough Times, Hard Choices — Struggling Households and the Rising Cost of Living in NSW shows that Rachel’s story is only one of many.

More than 60 per cent of low-income households in NSW are experiencing housing stress, rising to almost 80 per cent for those below the poverty line.

NSW Council of Social Service CEO Joanna Quilty Source: Supplied

More than a quarter of respondents living in private rentals were experiencing extreme housing stress, meaning they spend more than 50 per cent of their income on housing.

When energy bills look like phone numbers, a lettuce costs $12 and filling up the tank is only for the privileged, too many people are being left behind.

It’s particularly disturbing that people with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households, and carers were among the most likely to resort to going without the basics to get by.

It’s time for all governments to get serious about dealing with cost-of-living pressures that are overrunning too many people right now.