The Press -The compounding costs to children who have nowhere to call home
The findings of our new research Children and Young People Experiencing Homelessness have struck a chord in the national conversation, with an opinion piece by CEWH Project Director Victoria Crockford.
In her piece, Vic says housing policy must better recognise the structural and gendered nature of homelessness, and how disadvantage compounds over time. She highlights that children’s experiences cannot be separated from those of their mothers, with the impact on children particularly severe, as outcomes stack across health, education, safety, and wellbeing from the earliest years.
The research shows that 33,192 children and young people in Aotearoa are experiencing homelessness - missing out on the “compound interest” of stability and opportunity, and instead experiencing what CEWH Kaihautū Dr Kathie Irwin describes as “compound impact”.
Vic points out that the burden is not evenly shared. Māori and Pacific children are significantly overrepresented, at over 40 percent for Māori children and over 25 percent for Pacific children - far above their share of the population. Children in Gisborne and Northland - communities hit hardest by ongoing severe weather events - also bear a disproportionate burden.
“This disparity is not random and it is not a result of individual or family failure. It has a structural logic that stacks and compounds, sometimes for generations. A logic that is stealing the future of over 33,000 children in this country,” Vic says.
Read Vic’s opinion piece in The Press here
Hear more about the impact on children in Tairāwhiti Gisborne here
Read more about the impact on children in Taitokerau Northland here
Read our research Children and Young People Experiencing Homelessness here
You can take action - sign and send the CEWH Open Letter, which calls for a national, Te Tiriti-based strategy to end women’s homelessness here
