Godzone: Uneven and unequal
The Salvation Army has collected a range of social statistics for its annual State of the Nation report. It found . . .
An unexpected surplus of housing in Auckland will do nothing to relieve an acute shortage of accommodation in the city, the Salvation Army warns.
The Christian social agency says the the housing crisis is a result of unaffordable property and low income levels and a surplus of 7168 homes will not dent waiting lists.
The surplus of stock is discussed in the charity’s annual State of the Nation report which this year offers a mixed bag of outcomes with some significant progress but a list of areas requiring improvement.
The report says everyday Kiwis need to do more to address entrenched inequality and poverty.
“Unless we strongly endorse a whole-hearted effort to tackle poverty, our political leaders are unlikely to [show] the courage required to lead this change,” said director Ian Hutson.
And in order to effect major change “for those in the shadows”, the Government needed to increase beneficiary incomes and do more to fix the housing issues, the report said.
Auckland’s housing surplus
Auckland’s population dropped by 77,500 last year, Statistics NZ reported after the Census showed slower-than-forecast growth.
The Salvation Army believes this means there’s now a surplus of 7168 houses but warns this doesn’t show a housing excess but rather the erosion of the deficit suffered over the past five years. The charity has reported a home shortage since 2009.
It said a “fundamental question emerged” in light of the surplus about what’s causing the increases in homelessness and housing stress, and said the problem is houses are unaffordable compared with wages.
“The Auckland part of the story is distinctly one where tenants are under more stress and facing increasingly unaffordable renting situations,” the report said.
New Zealand’s housing deficit
The Census population adjustments also revealed a housing deficit outside of Auckland. The previous estimated shortfall of 2300 units between 2013 and 2018 has now risen to 11,200.
Nationwide, almost 14,000 households await accommodation, with the priority waiting list up 47 per cent in the year to September 30.
The demand for housing is largely felt in the regions. In the Bay of Plenty and West Coast-Tasman, the waiting lists lengthened by 37 per cent in the year to September 30, Central jumped 35 per cent and the East Coast waiting list increased by 32 per cent.
Children in need
The number of children living in New Zealand’s deepest poverty could fill Eden Park three and a half times.
And most of those 174,000 kids are from benefit-dependent homes.
Young people are struggling to participate in society and facing real mental health problems, with 73 aged between 15 and 19 taking their lives — the highest teen suicide rate since 2012, the Salvation Army said.
Assaults against children rose 40 per cent over the past four years.
“We don’t believe that this is the type of country that we want,” said a report author, Ronji Tanielu.
But figures on NCEA achievement, youth offending and teen pregnancy and abortion are looking better.
15kg of meth consumed per week
There’s been a steady decrease in teens from 15 to 19 who are hazardous drinkers but it’s worse for women, men, those aged 18 to 24 years, and Māori. Over 47 per cent of all illicit drug prosecutions were for methamphetamine and police wastewater testing found about 15kg of the drug is consumed each week.
That’s about $18 million per week in social harm across the country.
The number of pokie machines fell last year, but the losses to each rose to $62,000.
Unemployment down
Increased minimum wage, income support and hardship assistance hasn’t yet been captured in the statistics, but the Salvation Army said the scale of the challenge of poverty and inequality needed more investment.
Meanwhile, jobless levels are at their lowest for more than a decade.
And the Salvation Army warned that given economic growth has slowed, policy will need to be designed to include those missing out.
“The overall assessment is that despite some significant progress, much more needs to be done to ensure the growing prosperity of our economy is shared more fairly.”
Crime and punishment
While there have been some headline improvements in justice outcomes, offending and rehabilitation outcomes haven’t shifted substantially.
“Improvements are not significant and will require further bedding down before definitive appraisals can be made,” the report said.
And while victimisation levels haven’t reduced, arrests, prosecutions and case resolutions are lower.
Meanwhile recidivism rates remained “stubbornly high”.
Reconviction rates 24 months after release were 62 per cent and 68 per cent for Māori and there was a reimprisonment rate of 42 per cent and 47 per cent for Māori.