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.

Helen Clark is one of 11 candidates seeking the job, each of whom has held a public job interview with the UN General Assembly.

COMMENT: People in crisis need help, not judgment made in ignorance, writes the mother of a family once homeless.

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.

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.

Derek Handley has joined Eat My Lunch as an investor and advisor.

COMMENT: The problem of families with children forced to live in third-world conditions is eminently resolvable, writes Bryan Gould.

Mild weather has brought rough sleepers from all over NZ to Auckland, with the presence of extra homeless people resulting in more complaints about beggars.

A visiting British reading advocate says reading can help fight poverty.

For five years Syria has suffered through a civil war that has tortured its people and destroyed the country, writes World Vision's Chris Clarke. For five years too long children have witnessed things no one should ever see.

The world is full of opportunities to save money - if you just have enough money to access them.

The low hanging fruit in the debate about feeding hungry children must surely be reducing the waste of good food which is thrown away, writes Sam Judd.

The In Work Tax Credit fails children and is a policy that cannot be justified, writes Michael Timmins. Its operation is so complicated and ultimately punitive in that its costs outweigh any supposed benefits.

How many Kiwi kids are living in hardship? Far too many is the only answer that matters, write Brian Fallow.

The Salvation Army's annual stocktake on New Zealand's social health has earned high credibility. It owes this to its recognition of progress as well as problems.

A new report has given New Zealand one of the worst rankings in the developed world.

There is no poverty in New Zealand because the poor are not living in slums. Some people in so-called poverty even have cars and ovens, writes Jenesa Jeram.