Vulnerability: an ongoing story

“We applaud the work of the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services in the launch of their final Vulnerability Report today. These reports have kept issues of poverty and the range of pressing issues that those living in poverty are facing at the forefront”, says Dr Anna Casey-Cox of Poverty Action Waikato.

The NZCCSS report highlights that what social services in Hamilton are seeing on a regular basis is also experienced on a national level. “Too many people have too little. People aren’t getting out of poverty by living on nothing”, says Karen Morrison-Hume, Missioner of Anglican Action in Hamilton. “More funding is needed for services to address increasing demand and the increasing complexity of their needs, and more funding is needed for those individuals and their whānau.”

Wages have not risen sufficiently to cover increases in accommodation and living costs, the report stipulates. “Being employed on the minimum wage means living in poverty for many families we see”, says John Kavanagh, Manager of Catholic Family Support Services. “We pay a Living Wage because we believe that it is hard to survive in our community without a reasonable amount of income, and that we see many people who struggle to survive on their income. If we were all paid a Living Wage a lot of the other poverty related issues that people face would disappear.”

Food poverty and insecurity is described by the NZCCSS report as a now normalized issue facing our communities. Poverty Action Waikato’s latest report shows that community responses to food need in Hamilton are on the rise. But this is not surprising to many of the social services. “Of course this is happening”, says Robert Moore, Social Justice Enabler at Anglican Action. “If we as community can feed people who are hungry we will do it, but it’s living in the tension, because then Government can say, ‘well the community is doing it now we don’t have to’ and put up barriers to access assistance for food, or not make sure people have enough money to feed their families. But actually, this isn’t what we are funded to do. The community will always try and fill any gaps with whatever resources we have, but that’s not an excuse for Government to create them.”

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