A 71-year-old man on the waiting list for a state house said he was told to "live in his car and then call back" to speed up the process of getting a home.

New Zealand has the fourth-highest rate of child deaths from assault in the OECD. Simon Collins visited three communities to look for the root causes of that bad child abuse record. First: Flaxmere.

A survey which revealed access problems to the child disability allowance has raised more questions than answers.

The Labour Party is by no means alone in worrying what to do about 74,000 young people who are in neither employment, education or training.

Despite feeding her family on a tight budget, this Porirua mum is changing lives with her food parcel initiative.

Minister Anne Tolley says the UN Rights of the Child committee in Geneva asked her 250 questions but only one on child poverty.

COMMENT: To reduce inequality, politicians need to ensure Maori views are not frozen out by mono-cultural agencies and majority decisions.

COMMENT: Set up support networks and make sure that local addiction recovery services are available. If not, agitate for them.

COMMENT: The challenge is how do we improve employment opportunities for our intellectually disabled people?

A brief liaison with a man she didn't know cost a young Auckland woman $28 a week off her benefit for two years.

Retirement used to be synonymous with receiving National Superannuation. Not any more.

Retirement has become an outdated concept for 140,000 New Zealanders who have reached 65 and are still clocking in to work.

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

The Government will pay beneficiaries $3000 to move to cities such as Auckland for work.

Society's most vulnerable will receive a $650 million funding boost spanning health, welfare and education services aimed at helping those at-risk "lead better lives".

"I'm so frustrated," Tony Lepage said. "Our Government is spending $26 million on the flag - $26 million would be swallowed up for the homeless in a week".

An 81-year-old man who has been on welfare for 29 years has had his benefit stopped because Winz has belatedly decided that he didn't meet residency requirements.

Taxpayers' Union says Labour Party plans for "universal basic income" will come with hefty price tag.

Rising rents are believed to be driving a 46 per cent jump in food parcels being handed out each month by the Auckland City Mission since the middle of last year.

Applicants who are "too picky" will be removed from the waiting list under stricter new rules.

Welfare rolls have risen in Canterbury for the first time since reconstruction work began after the 2011 earthquake.

It's a simple formula: buy a delicious lunch, and a hungry child will get one too.

The latest report tells us 29 per cent of children lived in poverty in 2014, up from 24 per cent the previous year. About 14 per cent live in material hardship, lacking several of the items most New Zealanders would consider essential.

The Children's Commissioner is overwhelmed by the public response to his new social media campaign.

The number of NZ children living in households earning below 60 per cent of the median household income has almost doubled.

An alarming number of Auckland families are being forced to live together in one house so they can afford rent and living expenses.

The Government has a long-term plan of introducing "milestone payments" for non-government providers which improved the social outcomes of their tenants.