Families mired in poverty plight

ON THE RISE: A child living in poverty looks out of her family's flat.

There is no quick fix for poverty problems that are "entrenched and complex" in Wairarapa, says a Christian childcare centre, despite the economy recovering.

A report this year has shown that the global recession from 2007 to 2010 resulted in a 60,000 increase in the number of Kiwi children living below the poverty line.

The figures show that children in homes with under 60 per cent of the median income after housing costs, usually cited as New Zealand's poverty line, went from 240,000 in 2007 to 300,000 in 2010.

The number has since dropped back to 285,000.

Manager of the Masterton Christian Childcare Centre Donna Laing said the group "certainly has concerns" about the number of Wairarapa children living in poverty.

She is part of a poverty action group that has 83 members and is lobbying and sharing information between members of the public, Wairarapa candidates, the mayor and councillors.

The group is trying to achieve change on simple things like making the cost of a birth certificate more affordable for struggling families.

She said poverty problems are entrenched and complex in Wairarapa and there is no "quick fix".

"Everything has an impact [on children]. It can be the cost of housing, relationship issues, mental health issues, the cost of healthy food."

"It all ties together."

She said she didn't think Wairarapa was necessarily any worse than the rest of the country but "tended to have a lot of issues mixed in with tight budgets".

She also said Wairarapa suffers from being isolated and not having a good public transport system within towns, which adds to extra cost for families.

The Masterton Christian Childcare Centre provides several services: social work care, a pre-school for families that are struggling, parenting programmes and cooking lessons.

Ms Laing said they try to have a "holistic view" on dealing with entrenched poverty problems.

At the moment MCCC is providing services for 40 families, which is more than usual, according to Ms Laing.

There are 79 children, 15 single parents, 19 on WINZ support, 11 families with speech and language problems, 10 families with social problems, 10 familes with hearing problems, and 13 people with "other" health issues.

Ms Laing said drug and alcohol abuse within families was also increasing.

Other National statistics show the median household income for Wairarapa was $51,000 in 2006. It had gone up to $61,300 in 2013.

The median household income for New Zealand was $59,000 in 2006. It had gone up to $77,000 in 2013.

Wairarapa has the 6th lowest median household income figures in NZ. The region is falling behind the rest of New Zealand in terms of families being able to afford the basics for their children.

The latest statistics from the Child Poverty Monitor [statistics from the University of Otago], say that 27 per cent of New Zealand children live in poverty, 180,000 or 17 per cent of Kiwi kids go without the things they need, more than 10 per cent of Kiwi children are at the "hardest end" of the poverty line, and three out of five children living in poverty "live that way for many years".