‘Remember us’: NZ’s forgotten communities
Gangs, poverty and drugs are among the issues worrying New Zealand’s most vulnerable communities, a Salvation Army report has found.
In the report presented to Government on Wednesday, residents of Porirua City, Papakura in Auckland and the Christchurch suburb of Linwood were surveyed by the organisation to give a snapshot into what issues the communities faced.
In all three areas, school standdowns, notifications to child welfare agencies and rates of adult conviction were higher than the country’s average.
Residents often described feeling they were forgotten by the Government and the rest of the county.
Crime and safety, poverty, outside perception and concern for their children were recurrent themes of all three areas surveyed. Social progress in Porirua and Papakura was worse than the national average, the report found.
Described as a partner document to the annual State of the Nation report, the State of the Communities used more than 300 face-to-face interviews to analyse what was happening at the grassroots level in specific communities.
It also asked what ‘‘challenges’’ residents had for the prime minister; improving safety and helping the homeless was a common theme.
The issues concerning Porirua residents mostly mirrored those in the two other areas surveyed.
Gangs, drugs and anti-social behaviour were real concerns for residents of the city, the report found.
Vacant shops and buildings led people to believe businesses were struggling and they wanted more help for local homeless people. Beggars were a concern to many respondents.
Over half those surveyed felt most of Wellington viewed their city in a negative light, something they believed was outdated and stemmed from the gang presence in the city.
A school principal in the city’s east said local families struggled with low and unreliable incomes which made it hard to pay bills and buy decent food.
Children often missed school because their family couldn’t provide lunch.
Among the challenges to the prime minister were: ‘‘We’re better than what people say’’ and ‘‘our voice needs to be heard.’’