4 March 2025

Kick Back, a youth development and social justice community responding to Youth Homelessness, is concerned that Children experiencing homelessness are being neglected as a result of the Government’s lack of investment in New Zealand’s child welfare system.

The recent Experiences of Care report has highlighted an increase in the use of motels as an option for children without shelter, with the number of children placed in motel’s as an emergency option rising from 135 children in the 22/23 reporting period, to 176 children in the 23/24 period. At the same time, the report highlights that Social Workers are being discouraged from using motels as an emergency option due to lack of resources, despite Oranga Tamariki not having a viable alternative.

Kick Back is concerned that the full extent of Tamariki homelessness (children experiencing homelessness under the age of 16) is not fully understood due to the lack of adequate data being recorded by Oranga Tamariki and other Government agencies.

However, we do know that according to Census data Tamariki and Rangatahi make up about 50% of all those experiencing homelessness in Aotearoa. A 2022 Youth19 report also highlighted that of those surveyed, 60% of all children who identified themselves as being involved with Oranga Tamariki reported some form of housing deprivation in the last 12 months. And in another report conducted by Oranga Tamariki in the same year, it was estimated that 1 in 10 children transitioning from care or the justice system were experiencing homelessness.

And yet, despite all this, the Government has no clear strategy to respond to youth homelessness – let alone Tamariki homelessness.

Since opening Kick Back’s Outreach and Early Intervention service, The Front Door, to respond to Youth Homelessness in July 2024, about 8% of all those who have engaged with our services have been Tamariki (under 16). These are children, some as young as 11 years old, who have been experiencing homelessness, sleeping rough, couch surfing, living in dangerous and precarious housing situations, and are in environments where they are constantly unsafe.

“Our young people often tell us that the first time they experienced homelessness was when they were only children, we’ve heard story’s of children as young as 9 sleeping rough! At Kick Back, we believe that every child deserves a safe, loving , supportive home to live in. We also believe the Government has a responsibility to act in order to ensure that this is possible in New Zealand!” says Aaron Hendry, Co-founder and General Manager of Kick Back.

Children experiencing homelessness are often struggling with mental illness, dealing with addiction, experiencing significant trauma and belong to whānau who themselves are struggling with poverty and experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity themselves.

“There is a myth that if a child is experiencing homelessness, it’s the parents fault. Yet, the reality is often far more complex, with some whānau often experiencing homelessness themselves, having suffered at the hands of the care system as a child, struggling with their own trauma, mental illness, living in poverty and lacking the support they need to thrive.”

Kick Back is concerned that – as highlighted in the recent Experiences of Care report -Oranga Tamariki is not resourced by the Government to adequately respond to the needs of these children. Meaning that Oranga Tamariki just does not have the services in place to support whānau and their children to prevent an experience of homelessness, nor the right services and placement options available to care for children who may have to leave their parents care for a period of time.

Kick Back believes that a well resourced tamariki homelessness strategy, accompanied by homelessness services specifically designed to support and respond to Tamariki homelessness, is necessary if we are going to ensure some of our most structurally marginalized children are safe.

Kick Back is concerned that decades of underinvestment in New Zealand’s child welfare system has led to a situation where individual Social Workers are overworked and overwhelmed by the need in our communities, at a time, when inequality is increasing and Public Services and Community Supports are being slashed and reduced. Decisions to reduce the quality and access to School Lunches, to cut funding tagged towards building Youth Housing services, to delay Public Housing builds and make it easier for whānau to be evicted, while at the same time closing the door at Work & Income by creating increased barriers for people seeking to access Emergency Housing, are all decisions which are contributing to an increase in risk of homelessness for children.

“Tamariki Homelessness is a neglected crisis! We have abandoned some of our most vulnerable children to the street, children are suffering, communities are struggling, we cannot ignore this any longer!” says Aaron Hendry.

Kick Back is calling on the Government to respond immediately to this crisis by ensuring cross agency mahi on a Youth Homelessness strategy is begun and fast tracked towards implementation, with a specific focus on developing within that a Tamariki and Rangatahi Homelessness Prevention Strategy.

Alongside this, significant investment is needed into our child welfare system to ensure that whānau and children have access to the resources they need to thrive.

Kick Back is also calling on the Government to implement Duty to Assist Legislation, which would clarify the Government’s responsibility to support whānau to prevent an experience of homelessness, and ensure that when a child, or their whānau experience homelessness, that they receive all the necessary support to access housing as swiftly as possible.

“Housing is a basic human need,” says Aaron Hendry “we cannot expect our kids to excel in school, or even hope or dream for their futures, if they do not have a safe place to live, thrive, dream and create! Our children are worth far more than tax cuts, and our kids should not be the one’s carrying the burden of our current economic situation! An investment into our kids, is an investment into our future!”

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