Tag Archives: Social services

Garrick Tremain GOLD #housing

23 May 2017

In a statement provided to the Otago Daily Times Mr  Cull said it was not the council’s place to lead discussions, but it would be happy to take part in  Government-led discussions.

### ODT Online Sat, 20 May 2017
Affordable housing hitch
By Vaughan Elder
Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has declined a request from local MPs and social agencies for the Dunedin City Council to lead a crisis meeting over a lack of affordable housing. This comes as a group of social agencies, including the Salvation Army and Presbyterian Support, agreed to a statement saying the situation was reaching or had reached “crisis point”. The group said rising rents were making it hard and sometimes impossible for people on low incomes  to find affordable rental properties. “We are seeing a trend of landlords ending and not renewing leases, which forces tenants into a rental market they often cannot afford.” Waiting lists for social housing were growing and more families were living in cars and garages or being put up in motels while they waited for social housing. The group, led by Dunedin South MP Clare Curran, called on the council to co-ordinate a city meeting focused on identifying the problems and finding short-term solutions. “We believe the Dunedin City Council can play a strong role given it provides social housing and that housing quality and availability is an objective of its social wellbeing strategy.” They also believed the  Government was not doing enough to remedy the problem and that it should be involved in finding a local solution to the problem.
Read more

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

*Image: An idea promoted by the mayor: relocatables for managed retreat [Shadow Man 2013 – Matakishi’s tea house (detail) via matakishi.com]

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Filed under Architecture, Business, Construction, DCC, Democracy, Design, Dunedin, Economics, Education, Finance, Housing, Infrastructure, Media, Name, New Zealand, People, Politics, Project management, Property, Public interest, Resource management, Site, Technology, Town planning, Transportation, Travesty, Urban design, What stadium

Support Dunedin’s FoodShare —with donations

FoodShare 3 grapefruit

“Invest in us so we can take that investment and turn it into something real in the community.” –Deborah Manning, FoodShare

### ODT Online Tue, 7 Apr 2015
Half a million meals for Dunedin’s hungry
By Shawn McAvinue
More than 500,000 meals destined to be dumped have been diverted by a Dunedin non-profit group to feed the city’s hungry. FoodShare manager Pip Wood said more than 70 volunteers collected unwanted but edible food from more than 30 donor businesses, such as grocery stores, restaurants, caterers, bakeries, cafes and farmers’ markets. The food was then distributed to more than 20 social service agencies.
Read more

FOODSHARE
Rescuing Food | Nourishing Communities

FoodShare collects excess fresh and frozen food from donor businesses (markets, cafes, bakeries etc), then sorts and distributes it to social service agencies. This allows us to achieve our twin aims of feeding the hungry and reducing food wastage. As a not-for-profit organisation, we neither buy nor charge donors for the food; nor do we charge the agencies to which we deliver. All our work is undertaken by volunteers.

FoodShare is a non-profit organisation in Dunedin, New Zealand. An incorporated charitable trust & registered charity (CC47792).
FoodShare’s Board of Trustees are chairman David Kirk, CEO Deborah Manning, Michael Coughlin, Pieter Brits and Suneil Connor.

Check out FoodShare supporters here!

TO CONTACT OR DONATE FOOD OR CASH
Website: http://www.foodshare.org.nz/
Email: foodrescue @ foodshare.org.nz
Phone: 0800 44 55 33

Mailing Address:
FoodShare Charitable Trust, PO Box 12039, Dunedin 9043

FoodShare Gallery

FoodShare 2

The Dunedin Night Shelter Trust provides emergency housing for homeless people. John Whelan receives donated food from the University of Otago.
The nutritious fresh food is used straight away to feed their hungry clients.

### dunedintv.co.nz September 2, 2014 – 5:53pm
Local charity celebrates a milestone
More than 100,000 kilograms of food destined for landfill has been recovered by a local charity. FoodShare has been retrieving unwanted food from a range of Dunedin businesses since early 2012. But even as the organisation celebrates its success, demand for its service is growing exponentially.
Video

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: FoodShare

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NZ child poverty rates “stagnating”

### dunedintv.co.nz October 30, 2014 – 5:57pm
NZ child poverty rates haven’t improved since 2008
A new report from UNICEF shows child poverty rates in New Zealand haven’t improved since 2008. That’s prompted calls from locals for more governmental action to address the issue. And it seems even kids in Dunedin are feeling the effects of poverty. Video

Unicef - Children of the Recession (cover) Oct 2014### unicef.org.nz 29 October 2014
UNICEF cautions child poverty rates are “stagnating” in New Zealand
An international report by UNICEF has found that child poverty rates in New Zealand have barely changed since 2008, despite similar sized countries significantly reducing child poverty during the recent recession. UNICEF also revealed that youth unemployment has increased and more New Zealanders admit they do not have enough money to buy food.

The report, Children of the Recession, studied the impact of the global economic crisis on child wellbeing in 41 OECD and EU countries. It highlights the fact that the current and future lives of children have been – and are being – neglected in the global response to the Great Recession.

Read the full Children of the Recession report

Deborah Morris-Travers, National Advocacy Manager for UNICEF New Zealand, said: “The report shows that child poverty rates in New Zealand have stagnated, reducing by just 0.40 per cent since 2008. At the same time, Finland and Norway, states of a similar size to New Zealand, have reduced their child poverty rates by 4.30 and 3.20 per cent respectively. This strongly suggests that the government needs to review its approach to addressing child poverty and make policies for children a priority. There are many good examples of successful policies being implemented internationally, highlighting that child poverty is not an inevitable result of the recession if governments implement appropriate policy responses.”
Read more

Related Posts and Comments:
9.12.13 UNICEF NZ statement on child poverty monitor
29.8.12 Beloved Prime Minister ‘Jonkey’ speaking #childpoverty
17.2.12 Salvation Army: The Growing Divide
23.11.11 Last night, did John Key watch Inside NZ (TV3): Inside Child Poverty
26.10.11 2011 Voices of Poverty: Research into poverty in Dunedin
9.1.11 Detroit: “Make no little plans”

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UNICEF NZ statement on child poverty monitor

“The Monitor tells us that 159,000 children (60% of those in poverty) are living in poverty for long periods of time. Living in persistent poverty will undermine a child’s physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing with the potential for long-term damage.”

UNICEF NZ Statement on Child Poverty Monitor
Monday, 9 December 2013, 10:05 am
Press Release: UNICEF

UNICEF NZ Statement on Child Poverty Monitor, Released Today by OCC

The inaugural Child Poverty Monitor, released today (Monday, 9 December) by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC), JR McKenzie Trust and the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at Otago University, contains some deeply concerning figures. However, it is an important step forward for tracking how well New Zealand is doing in giving children the standard of living they need.
Deborah Morris-Travers, UNICEF New Zealand Advocacy Manager, said, “It’s of significant concern that 10% of Kiwi Kids – twice the rate of the New Zealand population as a whole – are living in severe poverty.
Read more at Scoop

Welcome to the First Child Poverty Monitor Technical Report
Monday, 9 December 2013, 9:44 am
Press Release: Child Poverty Monitor

Welcome to the First Child Poverty Monitor Technical Report

This Technical Report marks a new step in monitoring child poverty and social health indicators in New Zealand. It began with a partnership being established between the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, the University of Otago’s New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service (NZCYES) and the J R McKenzie Trust. This partnership saw a gap in publicly-available child poverty measures, and is addressing this gap by compiling, publishing and disseminating annual measurements on child poverty in New Zealand.
Last year, the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group (EAG) on Solutions to Child Poverty recommended that a suite of measures capturing different aspects of child poverty be measured and reported annually. We are fulfilling this recommendation. This new Technical Report builds on the Children’s Social Health Monitor (CSHM) produced by the NZCYES since 2009. We have added additional indicators that enable us to monitor child poverty in New Zealand. Along with this full Technical Report we have produced very high level information on the key measures of child poverty, which are available at http://www.childpoverty.co.nz.
We want to promote the common use of rigorous measures of poverty, so we can stop debating about the measure and start fixing the problem.

More info\

Report: 2013_Child_Poverty_Monitor_Technical_Report_MASTER.pdf

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 05:00 09/12/2013
One in four Kiwi children living in poverty
By Ben Heather – Dominion Post
More children living in crammed homes are ending up in hospital, as a new report shows one in four children remain mired in poverty. A new rigorous measure of child poverty released today shows that about one in six Kiwi children are going without basic necessities. This could mean not having a bed, delaying a doctor’s visit or missing out on meals. It also shows hospital admissions for children with medical conditions linked to poverty are rising. Tens of thousands of children are admitted every year for respiratory and infectious diseases associated with living in damp, overcrowded homes. “I see these poor preschool children in crowded homes that are cold and damp coming in with skin infections. They are filling our wards,” Children’s Commissioner Russell Wills, a Hawke’s Bay paediatrician, said.

Children, particularly the youngest, remain the most impoverished group of New Zealanders, three times more likely to live in poverty than those past retirement age.

And the gap between those going without and the rest is showing no signs of narrowing, with children born to solo beneficiary parents by far the most likely to get sick or injured. But child poverty is also reaching far beyond beneficiaries, with about two out of five impoverished kids living in working families. Overall 265,000 children live in poverty, which is measured by children living in households with less than 60 per cent of the median income after housing costs.
The report, called the Child Poverty Monitor, was commissioned by Dr Wills after the Government rejected calls to start a comprehensive measure of child poverty.
Read more

STATE OF CHILD POVERTY (via Dominion Post)

█ 265,000 children live in poverty, defined by income.
█ 1 in 3 Maori and Pacific children live in poverty.
█ 1 in 7 European children live in poverty.
█ 1 in 6 struggle to afford basic necessities such as healthcare and clothing.
█ 1 in 10 suffer from severe poverty, lacking basic necessities and adequate income.
█ 3 out of 5 will be living in poverty for much of their childhood.
█ 51 per cent are from sole parent families. 60 per cent are from beneficiary families.

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Radio New Zealand National
Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon
Monday 9 December 2013
The inaugural Child Poverty Monitor ( 11′ 30″ )
09:35 Dr Liz Craig is a Senior Clinical Epidemiologist at the University of Otago.
Audio | Download: Ogg  |  MP3

Related Posts and Comments:
29.8.12 Beloved Prime Minister ‘Jonkey’ speaking #childpoverty
17.2.12 Salvation Army: The Growing Divide
26.11.11 2011 Voices of Poverty: Research into poverty in Dunedin
23.11.11 Last night, did John Key watch Inside New Zealand (TV3): Inside Child Poverty

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Beloved Prime Minister ‘Jonkey’ speaking #childpoverty

### ODT Online Tue, 28 Aug 2012
Universal child benefit a ‘dopey’ idea: Key
Prime Minister John Key has dismissed as “dopey” a recommendation from a panel of experts that a universal child payment should be reintroduced as a way of reducing child poverty. The expert advisory group brought together by Children’s Commissioner Dr Russell Wills to find solutions to child poverty released its recommendations today.

Group members include AUT accounting expert James Prescott, Major Campbell Roberts of the Salvation Army, Professor Ritchie Poulton of the Dunedin School of Medicine and Philippa Howden-Chapman, a public health expert.

Among [the group’s] recommendations for the longer term was a universal child payment for under sixes. The payment would be highest while the child was a baby, when costs were high, and would decline through childhood. Co-chair Dr Tracey McIntosh said the payment was about ensuring children had the best start in life. “Investment in the early years has a particularly strong link to better outcomes for disadvantaged children”.
Read more

Download report and related documents here:
http://www.occ.org.nz/publications/child_poverty

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### ODT Online Sun, 26 Aug 2012
Child poverty costs country $6b a year: report
Child poverty is costing New Zealand $6 billion each year, according a new report commissioned by organisation Every Child Counts.

Every Child Counts chairman Murray Edridge defined poverty as children missing out on needed goods and services including adequate housing, nutrition, warm clothing and healthcare.

Manager Deborah Morris-Travers told TVNZ’s political programme Q+A 25 per cent of children in New Zealand are living in poverty. She said it was concerning to see how poverty affected different ethnicities with 40 per cent of Pacific Island children and 27 per cent of Maori children living in poverty. The report, “1000 days to get it right for every child – the effectiveness of public investment in New Zealand children”, released this week, examines initiatives from the Netherlands which could be applied here. APNZ
Read more

Download report here:
http://www.everychildcounts.org.nz/news/1000-days-to-get-it-right-for-every-child-poor-child-outcomes-costing-the-nation-billions/

Household Incomes in New Zealand: Trends in Indicators of Inequality and Hardship 1982 to 2011 (Aug 2012)

Download report and related documents here:
http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/monitoring/household-incomes/index.html

Related Posts and Comments:
17.2.12 Salvation Army: The Growing Divide
23.11.11 Last night, did John Key watch…(TV3): Inside Child Poverty
26.10.11 2011 Voices of Poverty: Research into poverty in Dunedin

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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Salvation Army: The Growing Divide

Like a number of other religious and non-religious organisations, [the Salvation Army] are the embodiment of Martin Luther King’s observation that, while we are called to be Good Samaritans, after we lift so many people out of the ditch we start to wonder whether the whole road to Jericho needs to be repaved.

### ODT Online Fri, 17 Feb 2012
Opinion: Straight talking on social justice
By Andrew Bradstock
Religious commitment is a powerful inspiration to act for social justice, writes Andrew Bradstock, of Dunedin. Today, the Salvation Army releases its 2012 “state of the nation” report. Called The Growing Divide, the report will be launched in four locations, with the Dunedin event hosted by the University of Otago Centre for Theology and Public Issues. Last year, the university signed a “memorandum of understanding” with the Salvation Army, and today’s event demonstrates the developing relationship between the two bodies. Now in their fifth year, these Salvation Army reports present an overview of New Zealand society, focusing on children’s health and wellbeing; work and income; housing; crime and punishment; and “social hazards” like alcohol, drug use and gambling. This year’s report examines the key indicators of the growing inequality in our nation.
Read more

• Andrew Bradstock is Howard Paterson professor of theology and public issues at the University of Otago and director of the University’s Centre for Theology and Public Issues.

Download:

> The Growing Divide (PDF, 924KB)

The Growing Divide and previous State of the Nation reports are available to view at: The Social Policy & Parliamentary Unit

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Related posts:
23.11.11 Last night, did John Key watch… (TV3): Inside Child Poverty
26.10.11 2011 Voices of Poverty: Research into poverty in Dunedin

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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2011 Voices of Poverty: Research into poverty in Dunedin

Between July 2010 and April 2011, Presbyterian Support Otago (PSO) interviewed eleven families who were representative of their client base. The intent was to gather information on the changes the families either experienced or put in place to mitigate the effects of the increase in GST (1 October 2010, from 12.5% to 15%), rising prices and an uncertain economic environment as New Zealand moved out of its recession.

During the course of the interviews the government instituted the Future Focus policy direction and, allied to this, the Welfare Working Group reported on possible directions for consultation. Behind both of these initiatives was an expectation that all people of working age who are currently dependent on the government can, and will, be encouraged into paid employment.

Ensuring that families and individuals have sufficient income to meet their basic needs (food, clothing, warm housing and medical care) is a priority; whether those families and individuals are on a benefit or a wage.
Can We Do Better 2008

As in previous reports PSO noted that juggling income, debt, inadequate housing, health and transport difficulties and parenting responsibilities is how people below the poverty line live their lives.

The report concludes with recommendations for action by government, local bodies and the public sector. Has the landscape changed? For New Zealand – yes; we have been through a recession and survived. For the “voices of poverty” – no; for many, their landscape is as bleak as it ever was and for some the future doesn’t look great either.

Has the Landscape Changed? 2011 (PDF, 7.17 MB)
Can We Do Better 2008 (PDF, 1.52 MB)
Old Cold and Costly 2004 (PDF, 2.98 MB)
How Much is Enough : 2003 update (PDF, 137.16 KB)
How Much Is Enough : 2002 research (PDF, 4.15 MB)

Source: https://otago.ps.org.nz/resources

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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If the stadium moves to soccer as anchor tenant

Then spare a recyclable design thought action for others.
Hot off Twitter.

To the children in The Third World; Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Congo and etc, who can’t enjoy football freely because of poverty, war and natural disaster, having a football means a lot and can be a dream and hope to escape from their poor life.

### Dezeen December 1st, 2009 at 10:27 am
Dreamball by Unplug Design
By Rose Etherington
Seoul design studio Unplug Design have designed an aid package that can be made into a football by children in developing countries. Called Dreamball, the object consists of a cylindrical container for the delivery of aid packages, which the children can roll to where it will be needed instead of having to carry it. Paper around this container is printed with a pattern that can be used to make balls of different sizes.
Read more + Photos

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

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