PSNZ Position on Housing
Despite a warm safe and affordable home being a fundamental human right, in Aotearoa in 2021 there are 41,644 New Zealanders currently “severely housing deprived” . This group includes ‘rough sleepers’ or people without shelter (3,522), people in temporary accommodation as they look for a home (7,567), as well as people in severely crowded private dwellings (30,555). In focusing narrowly on the physical element of ‘shelter’, housing policy makers have missed the critical social element of connection and human contact that defines the home. Presbyterian Support NZ urges government policy thinking to be more influenced by concepts of home, some shared by all but some distinct and unique to particular populations.
PSNZ Position on Housing