The Household Affordability Index aims to shine a light into the affordability crisis facing households living on low incomes by enumerating the costs of goods and services poor households cannot live without. It thus provides a measure of inflation as experienced by households living on low incomes. The Index is published by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PEJDG), and is designed through conversation with women living on low incomes in Pietermaritzburg.
While the data collection draws on the experiences of households in Pietermaritzburg, the Household Affordability Index may provide a reasonable sense of the affordability crisis and inflationary pressures for working class households across South Africa. The Household Affordability Index was launched in June 2018 and is released monthly.