The poor and disadvantaged in Canberra are falling further behind every year, the ACT Council of Social Service says, calling on the ACT government to extend its concessions program to help.
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Council director Susan Helyar said a single person on the Newstart allowance was expected to live on $38 a day, or $269 a week, which was "simply not enough".
A person on youth allowance had less still, just $31 a day, or $220 a week.
Ms Helyar said Canberra's relative affluence and diversity of suburbs hid the problem, with most suburbs also having people at the higher ends of the income scale, lifting the average suburb income.
But she said almost 13 per cent of Canberrans, or 28,600 people, are among the most disadvantaged 20 per cent Australians. And the problem was getting worse.
Last year, the cost of living nationally rose 1.5 per cent, but in Canberra it rose 1.8 per cent, the highest in the country alongside Sydney.
The biggest hit was for people on low incomes. For people on Centrelink pensions such as Newstart and Youth Allowance, the cost of living rose 1.8 per cent, whereas for people in jobs, the cost of living rose 1 per cent. For age pensioners, the cost of living rose 1.6 per cent and for self-funded retirees it rose 1.4 per cent.
"For three consecutive years .. the cost of living in the ACT has increased disproportionately for those households that can least afford it," she said.
"It is critical that the ACT government takes what action it can to ensure that Canberra is a liveable place for all."
Ms Helyar called for wider access to discounts for fees and charges in Canberra for low income households. At the moment the ACT government's discounts are aimed at people with certain cards, such as health care cards, pensioner cards and seniors cards.
ACTCOSS wants discounts for driver's licenses and car registration to be extended to people on low incomes on probationary and restricted licenses. She says people should not be penalised for paying fees, fines and charges on payment plans rather than upfront.
And she has called for a financial assistance scheme for people convicted of drink driving and on the Alcohol Ignition Interlock program. People on low incomes should be eligible for severe financial hardship assistance, perhaps repaying the cost of their interlock device by instalments, or by a work or development program.
Mr Helyar said living on $220.10 per week for Youth Allowance, or $268.75 for Newstart meant very few discretionary or luxury items and no room for unexpected bills such as a medical bill or higher-than-expected phone bill
"Housing, food, transport, health and utilities bills all have to be squeezed into a very small payment which is around $400-$450 under the minimum wage of $672.70 per week," she said in a report on cost of living pressures released on Monday, ahead of Tuesday's ACT budget.
Fifty-five per cent of people on Newstart and 51 per cent of people on Youth Allowance were living in poverty.
Electricity rose 6.3 per cent in Canberra in 2016, compared to 4.7 per cent across the country. Health rose 4.1 per cent in Canberra and 3.7 per cent nationally. Housing rose 2.2 per cent in Canberra and 1.9 per cent nationally. The cost of food rose 2.3 per cent in Canberra and 1.8 per cent nationally.
Canberra did better on fuel costs, which increased by 4.1 per cent compared to a national rise of 6.7 per cent. But clothing costs increased 3 per cent in Canberra compared with a 0.5 per cent drop in prices nationally.
Newstart with family tax benefit for a single parent of two is $558. Payments for that person were up by $7.21 a week compared with a year ago, but the cost of living was up by $9.92 a week. The aged pension for a single person is $439 a week.
