‘Latte line’: poverty rises in parts of Sydney as gap hardens between city’s east and west

In some parts of Bankstown, Liverpool and Fairfield, in Sydney’s south and west, poverty rates are above 25%, which is the highest in New South Wales. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

The “latte line” dividing Sydney’s western and eastern suburbs is hardening, with new research identifying deepening levels of poverty within already disadvantaged areas and groups.

A report commissioned by the New South Wales Council of Social Services (Ncoss) also found one in five renters are among more than 1 million people living in poverty in the state.