Every Child Counts
Media Release
8 September 2016

Report highlights severity of housing crisis

The Ministry of Social Development's Household Incomes Report has reported that housing costs now take a much greater proportion of household income, especially for low-income households.

According to the report, almost all renters receiving the accommodation supplement spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs, three in four spend more than 40% and an astonishing half spend more than 50%.

“These figures are highly concerning and unsustainable for many families. The bottom line is we can’t continue like this” says Lisa Woods, Executive Officer of Every Child Counts.

Cost is not the only problem identified by the report. The report also highlights problems with quality, stating that around 110,000 children are living in households reporting a major problem with dampness and mould, and around 140,000 children are living homes that have a major problem with heating.

“The detrimental impacts on health and wellbeing from inadequate housing are well known, but children are particularly vulnerable to the negative impacts” says Lisa.

When it comes to poverty and material hardship trends for children, the report shows no increase.

“While no increase in poverty and material hardship trends has been reported, the numbers of children living in poverty remain astoundingly high. With housing costs increasing at a rate unsustainable for many, and poverty rates not significantly changing, we need urgent, coordinated and decisive action” says Lisa.

“Meaningful change requires a sustained programme of work across a range of areas. However too often action by successive governments has been piecemeal, and this is wholly inadequate. Without a nationally coordinated strategy with targets and measures, there is limited accountability and almost no way to judge whether we are on the right track.

“Every Child Counts would like to see the Government and all parties in parliament commit to addressing the housing crisis and child poverty through a national strategy. We would like to see strong leadership that brings together local and national government, iwi, NGOs and others across the community to work out a plan of action” says Lisa.

About Every Child Counts
Every Child Counts is a coalition of organisations working to improve the status and wellbeing of NZ children, driven by Barnardos, Plunket, UNICEF, Save the Children, and Mana Ririki.

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