{"id":371125,"date":"2026-04-09T11:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/371125\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:33:09","slug":"northland-charities-warn-child-poverty-crisis-worsening-with-cost-of-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/371125\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland charities warn child poverty crisis worsening with cost of living"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPoverty, youth suicide, truancy, rheumatic fever … they are all inter-related,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoverty impacts wh\u0101nau in a myriad of different ways. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about material hardship, it\u2019s the psychological effects, it\u2019s addiction, ill health, and social capacity. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we exist unfortunately. There\u2019s a growing need here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wickbom was \u201cvery concerned\u201d about the Iran conflict\u2019s impact on struggling Northland<\/a> communities. <\/p>\n

The Bald Angels<\/a>, a registered charity that helps the less fortunate through various programmes and initiatives, is bracing for the worst as fuel prices and economic concerns dominate headlines. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are preparing ourselves to cope with a greater influx of need … if things worldwide keep deteriorating,\u201d Wickbom said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost of fuel is going to impact the cost of everything. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to impact everyone but if you take a wh\u0101nau who are already struggling \u2013 I feel very concerned about the fallout.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"BaldBald Angels founder Therese Wickbom says Tai Tokerau has topped New Zealand statistics for child poverty for quite some time. Photo \/ Jenny Ling<\/p>\n

While there is no single official measure of child poverty in New Zealand, the Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 includes measures of low income, material hardship and persistent poverty. <\/p>\n

Salvation Army principal policy analyst Paul Barber said the child poverty rate rose from 13.4% in the year to June 2024, to 14.3% in the year to June 2025. <\/p>\n

The estimated number of children in hardship rose from 158,800 in 2024 to 169,300, an increase of 10,800. <\/p>\n

Barber said too many children were going without the basics. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor children and families already stretched by the rising cost of living, these figures are not just statistics, they represent everyday hardship and stress felt in communities right across the country.\u201d <\/p>\n

Liz Cassidy-Canning, chief executive of Whang\u0101rei<\/a> kaupapa M\u0101ori support provider Whare \u0100whina, said many families were living in substandard conditions and overcrowding in Northland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe story doesn\u2019t really change once you\u2019re over the [Auckland] Harbour Bridge. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe see it in all of our infrastructure, we see it in our housing and roads. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad the data is collecting some of what we see every day.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cassidy-Canning said a growing number of people<\/a> needed their services, including the social supermarket and cafe. <\/p>\n

They included beneficiaries and the working poor, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a changing tide of what the need looks like; it\u2019s getting wider. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that will keep rising, particularly now. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sad situation but not an unknown situation for Te Tai Tokerau – it never has been.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"WhareWhare \u0100whina chief executive Liz Cassidy-Canning said a lot of Northland families were living in substandard conditions and overcrowding.<\/p>\n

Cassidy-Canning called on the Government and ministries to work with local providers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to come up with solutions together rather than Government-led responses.\u201d <\/p>\n

Barber also called on policymakers to \u201cact decisively\u201d to strengthen income support, improve food hardship and housing supports, and ensure wages and benefits keep pace with the cost of living. <\/p>\n

\u201cConsistent with responses from child poverty advocates, we echo deep concern that the rise in material hardship shows the system is not yet turning the tide. <\/p>\n

\u201cUrgent, targeted action is needed to ensure every family has enough to live with dignity and security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout focused and sustained effort, too many of our children will continue to grow up in hardship and miss the chance for the fair start they deserve.\u201d <\/p>\n

Social Development Minister Louise Upston said the Government was taking action to reduce child poverty \u201cby fixing the basics and building the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

The most recent statistics were expected and show no significant changes in the three primary child poverty measures compared to 2023\/24, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Government has made a number of changes to improve the lives of Kiwi families. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve increased the in-work tax credit, lifted the threshold for Working for Families, provided working families with tax relief, reduced inflation and introduced FamilyBoost to make childcare more affordable. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnemployment is the last thing to come right after a recession and that is why our Government is focused on growing the economy, reducing the number of people on the jobseeker benefit and reducing the number of children in benefit dependent households.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cPoverty, youth suicide, truancy, rheumatic fever … they are all inter-related,\u201d she said. \u201cPoverty impacts wh\u0101nau in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[34040,2511,4187,537,2550,2893,2678,13484,4188,111,43,139,1067,69,1118,8393,12937,2994,15400,1072,1886,26697,1533,102,74944,59039],"class_list":{"0":"post-371125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-charities","9":"tag-child","10":"tag-cost","11":"tag-crisis","12":"tag-even","13":"tag-fear","14":"tag-fuel","15":"tag-higher","16":"tag-living","17":"tag-new-zealand","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-newzealand","20":"tag-northland","21":"tag-nz","22":"tag-of","23":"tag-poverty","24":"tag-prices","25":"tag-providers","26":"tag-push","27":"tag-social","28":"tag-support","29":"tag-warn","30":"tag-will","31":"tag-with","32":"tag-worsen","33":"tag-worsening"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}