A generation of Queensland children are “growing up in poverty through no fault of their own” as a new report finds parents are skipping meals to feed their families.
The Queensland Council of Social Services (QCOSS) living affordability report reveals three out of five families are running a deficit budget each week to afford the basics.
The report showed a single working parent was about $150 short in their budget each week and none of the modelled households had enough income to cover unforeseen emergencies.
Although cost-of-living relief by governmentsis helping, McVeigh said it was not enough to keep many families above the poverty line.
She said unprecedented increases in rental prices in Queensland over the last five years were a major pressure on families and “there is no way to ensure that rent does not continue to increase”.
An intervention to tie rental prices to CPI, she said, would mean landlords could cover rising costs but not take advantage.
