Addressing the cost of living

Affordable Living SA

Even with careful budgeting, many households can face difficulties making ends meet. This is why the Department of Human Services and the Salvation Army SA have partnered to create Affordable SA, a website and app that provides a range of information, practical tips and tools to help support your household to manage the cost of living.

Check out the Affordable Living SA website, where you can download the app on iTunes or Google Play (bottom of the homepage).

Financial inclusion action plan

The Department of Human Services is working with Good Shepherd Microfinance to develop and launch a Financial Inclusion Action Plan in 2020. Through this plan, we will establish a range of practical measures that will help us create a more financially inclusive South Australia. We will explore ways to strengthen our direct financial assistance programs including concessions, financial counselling, low and no interest loans, and we will pilot and evaluate the effectiveness of new approaches.

You can find a statement of commitment from our Chief Executive, Tony Harrison, here.

Foe more information about financial inclusion action plans, visit Good Shepherd Microfinance's website to find out more.

Food security project: Improving individual and household food security outcomes in South Australia

The South Australian Department of Human Services and the Department for Health and Ageing have undertaken a project in collaboration with partners in the charitable food relief and community sectors to co-design an optimal charitable food system to address food insecurity in South Australia and improve client outcomes.

Improving individual and household food security outcomes in South Australia (PDF 993.9 KB)

The project was shaped by extensive engagement with the charitable food relief and community sectors, clients of charitable food relief and academic experts in food security through a number of activities, including:

• a food security literature review (PDF 1.1 MB) undertaken by academics from Curtin University and Flinders University (October 2016)
• two roundtable workshops with key funded partners: Roundtable 1 overview / Roundtable 2 overview
• a survey of food relief providers (DOC 811.5 KB) (September 2017)
• a research project - South Australian Food Relief Recipients’ Perspectives on Services (PDF 1.8 MB) -  undertaken by Flinders University and Curtin University to gain insight into the lived experience of food relief clients (October–December 2017)
• Improving individual and household food security outcomes in South Australia discussion paper (PDF 1.6 MB) for public consultation (October–November 2017).

For any queries about this project, please email us.

Charter of Affordability

The Charter of Affordability (PDF 62.8 KB) is a partnership between government and key organisations that many people deal with on a regular basis.

Banks, energy companies, local government as well as state government organisations such as SA Water all impact on the household budget.

Through the Charter, each organisation has agreed to six guiding principles that ensure people in financial hardship are treated with respect and compassion, and can access information to help them make important decisions.