The gap between rich and poor is growing in New Zealand, new data shows, partly driven by rising housing costs.

This year's World Water Week, held in Stockholm, Sweden, will focus on water and sustainable growth.

COMMENT: There are two NZs on display and each is as un-Kiwi as the other.

COMMENT: Never mind arguing about whether child poverty exists: what are we going to do?

More than half of New Zealand's 41,000 homeless people are now families with children, according to new Otago University research.

A family living in a South Auckland garage faces eviction in October because the landlord converted it into a flat without a council permit.

A stand-alone ministry that will replace Child, Youth and Family has been officially named as the Ministry for Vulnerable Children.

The Government has no idea how much money it lent to beneficiaries to stay in motels, the Ministry for Social Development has admitted.

Manurewa MP Louisa Wall asked consumers to add pads and tampons to their shopping lists, in order to help young women who are unable to afford them.

COMMENT: We have the power to change our own lives and far better to live a life of hope and ambition than one of hopelessness and despair.

Teenagers from poor families have more psychological problems if they live in rich areas, a new study has found.

He walked the streets and slept where he could shelter. Public spaces were his home and lots of people looked at him - but few actually saw him.

Items as basic as soap and toothbrushes are in growing need among the country's most impoverished children this winter, says a national charity.

Over one million tourists visited a township, favela or slum somewhere in the world in 2014.

Lima's huge shantytowns are not the standard fare of tourists, but for some, they're precisely why they come.

About 200 people braved freezing conditions overnight to sleep in their cars as part of the Park Up for Homes event in Auckland's Onehunga.

COMMENT: Nothing can justify that 41,000 Kiwis have no safe place to lay their head each night.

Boxing legend David Tua will sleep in his car for a night next week, joining a growing national movement calling for houses for homeless families.

Hundreds spend night in cars in support of homeless families.

Mangere Town Centre carpark is packed with people this evening as they prepare to sleep in their cars for an event raising awareness on homelessness.

COMMENT: Heart-breaking stories of families living in cars, garages and overcrowded houses demonstrate that our welfare state is broken, writes Catriona MacLennan.

What makes people get into politics? Imagine being the Minister of Social Housing, and seeing someone who helps the homeless as the enemy.

Foketi Purcell gave her longtime friend Brenda Sekona a car, a thank you for taking her and her family in when two years earlier they had nowhere else to go.

Warriors star James Gavet has been through a lot in his 27 years, on and off the football field. Now he's using his life experiences to help those in need.

Homeless people sleeping rough pose a visible challenge to all of us. The poor who camp in public places and beg in streets make themselves very visible.

Conservative lobby group blames "family malformation" - including parental breakups - as major culprit.

COMMENT: There's been far too much hysterical hanky wringing over the so-called problems of homelessness and poverty lately.

In 1993, New Zealand ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.