Abstract
In Aotearoa New Zealand (henceforth referred to as Aotearoa) a range of housing supports are aimed at improving homeownership rates and making both private rental and public housing more available. Despite these "supports", a large number of children, adolescents and young people are experiencing housing insecurity or severe housing deprivation. Housing intersects with health, education, state care and welfare to influence a range of outcomes for children, therefore this paper addresses the critical issue of access to housing supports for children and adolescents. Through Official Information Act requests and a review of existing housing sector data, we found 323,257 children within the housing support system in Aotearoa New Zealand, with Māori (Indigenous People of Aotearoa) children disproportionately represented. We describe how children are largely unaccounted for in housing support system data, and this invisibility therefore challenges the understanding of the extent, inequities, and impact of the housing sector on children. We argue the urgent need for transformative policies centred on children, embedded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), to ensure all children have access to stable, healthy, and secure housing for a brighter future.
I Aotearoa New Zealand (ka kīa i raro ihonei ko Aotearoa) tērā te whānuitanga o ngā tautoko kāinga noho. Ko te whāinga oaua tautoko he whakapiki i te tokomaha o te hunga ko rātou te rangatira o tōrātou kāinga, waihoki, kia wātea kē atu ngā kāinga rēti tūmataiti, tūmatanuihoki. Ahakoa ēnei "tautoko", tērā te whānuitanga atu o ngā tamariki, o ngātaiohi me ngā rangatahi kāore i te tika te whāinga whare, kua kore rawa rāneihe whare mō rātou. Ka whirinaki atu te whāinga whare o te tangata ki te hauora,ki te mātauranga, ki te tautiaki a te kāwanatanga i te tangata, me ngā mahitoko i te ora, ā, ēnei katoa ka noho hei pūtake mō te huhua o ngā putanga mā tetamariki, nā reira, e anga ana tēnei pepa ki te take hira o te whāi wāhi kitētahi tautoko kāinga noho mā te tamariki me te taiohi. Nā runga i ngā tono iraro i te Ture mō te Mōhiohio Whai Mana, me tā mātou arotake i ngā raraungarāngai whare o nāianei, i kitea e mātou 323,257 ngā tamariki i roto i te pūnahatautoko kāinga noho o Aotearoa, ā, ko ngā tamariki a te iwi Māori (Te IwiTaketake o Aotearoa) kei runga rawa te noho i reira. Ka whakamāramatia e mātouhe pēhea ngā tamariki i wareware ai i roto i ngā raraunga pūnaha tautoko kāinganoho, he pēhea hoki tēnei wareware i noho hei wero mō tō tātou māramatanga mōte whānui, ngā korenga e tairite, me te pānga o te rāngai whare ki tetamariki. E kī ana mātou me mātua whakauru mai ētahi kaupapa here panoni nui, earonui ana ki te tamariki, i takea mai i Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty ofWaitangi), kia wātea he kāinga noho tū tika, hauora, toitū hoki mā ngā tamarikikatoa, e pai ake ai tō rātou noho i te ao nei.