Poverty or Well-being

Ian Ritchie

Poverty Action Group

Various great people have said, the measure of a society (or community) is how well it looks after those who are less well off.

How do we rate?

The numbers in poverty are high!

This region had the lowest average weekly incomes for all people 15 and over, in the country last year, $21 a week behind Northland.

At the 1996 census, 48% of those over 15 in Palmerston North, had an income of less than $15,000, and 45% of households have incomes below $30,000 before tax. These are the unofficial poverty lines. Between one third and one half of the population in the city receive publicly funded income support - including those in work and out of work.

The situation is getting worse. The CAB reports an increase in enquiries about bankruptcies and the Budget Advisory Service reports that clients coming to the Service now are in a worse situation than they used to be. The Financial Freedom Trust doubled its load over the last 12 months.

The effects of poverty on people’s lives

While despite the downskilling taking place across much of the workforce, more mature people are getting jobs, but those who are struggling to survive on the dole or alternative, are losing their teeth, the use of the eyes and their ears. Foodbanks report increasing numbers of workers seeking this last ditch help and people paying up to 70% of their income on rent which means going with out many of the essentials including food.

Current housing costs mean that ghettos are being created both in the city and in the smaller townships. Lack of a phone and transport further isolates people and increases in many ways the cost of living.

A few years ago, around 30% of some primary school classes were changing every year as families moved on having exhausted the willingness of the community to give them credit. That figure is now 40%. The cost to the wider community is enormous but not as great as that suffered by the families themselves, especially the children - who can’t learn because they are tired, hungry, stressed out and sick from overcrowding and the third world diseases that arise from this.

Nationally, we used to be a society of home owners, this is changing rapidly as a number of government policies including student loans force or encourage more people to rent. These and other policies and practices have led to a major increase in all the poverty indicators over the last 10 - 15 years. While they have increased the dollars turning over in the community, behind these figures are the hardship and deprivation that has been created by these changes.

The dollar turnover, the current measure of economic growth, is a very poor measure of community well-being. Prisons, policing and security systems are not the answer to crime any more than private hospitals are the path to good health. Much more basic issues must be addressed.

Whose responsibility?

Maintaining and improving the well-being of citizens is essentially a community responsibility and therefore a key role of both central government and local government. This has been lost sight of over the last 15 years. But it is not just a role for central and local government, we, as groups and individuals must each accept a share of the responsibility if we want to share in a “decent” society. There is a lot of truth in the saying, if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.

At the national level, it will take more that a review of one department, with MP’s occasionally sitting in an office of that department, to change the culture of government agencies from maximising returns at the expense of its “customers” and running the department down, to refocussing on citizen well-being and restoring the concept and practice of “public service”. This will take changes to the legislative superstructure before the attitudes change. The effects of policies and programmes introduced must be monitored and the statistics to enable this to be done must be gathered.

Similarly, if this city’s Vision is to happen, “that Palmerston North will become a more exciting and caring place to live, learn, work and play, “ we all, from the Council out to the rest of us must make a commitment to working to make it happen - adding it to our community and corporate mission statements.

Some steps forward

Both central and local government have a crucial role in the provision of services such as housing. They have a different raison detre from private providers, citizen well-being, for the good of all, the “public”, they also set standards right across the sector, of provision and of charges. They are major players, that is what gives them the ability to exert influence. And of course they cater to those with special needs who are disadvantaged by these.

Can the Council afford to be involved in housing? We not only say yes! we also say it cannot afford not to be. Where Councils are involved, standards rise, and so does the reputation of the city. Where Councils withdraw, standards fall and so does the reputation. Handing this crucial area over to commercial interests will sabotage other efforts to achieve the City Vision.

But we all have a role to play, house owners, landlords, tenants and community and industry groups. If we choose to say, not my responsibility, we are colluding to the decay, not only of our housing standards but to the well-being of our community as a whole because of all the serious side effects that are associated with poor housing.

We have a responsibility to do something concrete and to be pro-active. Exciting and caring cities don’t just happen, they have to be deliberately built. Let us each do our share to make our city Vision come true, especially for those most in need.

While the initiatives of the wide range of community groups we are hearing about today are very important they cannot deal to the real issues of widespread lack of income, poor quality rental housing and rents too high. The responsibility for dealing with these issues has to be the responsibility of central and local governments.