If foodbanks were the answer, can underfunding them be the solution?
To our shame foodbanks are huge growth industry in Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s both a puzzle and contradiction. What economist in this free market economic paradise could acquiesce, let alone justify, the provision of daily food for so many in this highly inefficient, non-market way?
Soup kitchens and charity have always had a place in pandemics and deep recessions, but for the last 30 years through good as well as bad times the foodbank industry has expanded relentlessly. Now the major foodbanks have an extensive infrastructure of the trucks, freezers, storage warehouses, volunteer labour, office admin, and feed families on an unprecedented scale. Unable to function on just charitable donations, they have become increasingly reliant on government funding.
Here’s what happens. For 30 years both Labour and National failed to provide an adequate safety net. Low core benefits, joint income testing, harsh clawbacks for earning extra on a benefit, perverse discrimination in Working for Families, stringently means-tested supplementary hardship assistance and parsimonious rent assistance in the face of rampantly rising rents, drive increasing numbers to foodbanks. The private donors to foodbanks cant keep up, and foodbanks require funding from government to buy enough food to distribute. Foodbanks package it up in food parcels for families who have to jump through administrative, time-consuming hoops to get a mix of food items they may not have chosen had they just been given the money instead . At the same time, these families continue to go further and further into debt, increasing their inability to make ends meet and accelerating their need for food assistance.
And now, just at the point of the protracted recession turning into some something even more intractable, the government has decided to cut the funding to foodbanks: Struggling Auckland foodbanks fear turning families away as funding dries up (msn.com)
The City Mission works with three marae in South Auckland – Manuwera, Papakura, and Ngā Whare Waatea. Earlier this year, it received $700,000 in one-off government support after calls to fund food security in the budget – but Robinson said the foodbank really needed a grant of $1.5 million. The latest government boost meant the foodbank could provide 50,000 parcels a year – but only until Christmas.
And Dave Letele to close down Auckland foodbank | RNZ News He needed a million and received only $87,000. It all about balancing the budget with austerity cutbacks that are the worst macroeconomic management tool imaginable in a deep recession:
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was saddened to hear Letele was closing down his foodbank, but insisted the government was supporting people in hardship. At the same time, she pointed to the government books which showed a deficit of $12.9 billion to the year ended June.
“The government invests significantly through the welfare system to make sure that those who are without jobs or income are supported by fellow New Zealanders. We also make hardship grants available for those who find themselves in particularly challenging circumstances, and we do provide a quantum of funding for food networks, for food banks, across the country,” she said.
So now that poverty has been normalised and foodbanks entrenched, the government throws it back on New Zealanders whose fault it must be:
” The question is always can all New Zealanders afford to keep increasing that rate investment in the way we have in recent years? The books today tell us it’s now a time for very careful choices.”
This is a moral dilemma and a human catastrophe in the making. On the one hand, hugely wealthy property owners like Luxon can make huge untaxed gains selling properties, on the other, families are denied the basic of decent food in this land of plenty and must pay the price of these ‘careful choices’ Nicola Willis alludes to.
The Stats from MSD show that there are now 222,285 children in families receiving a core welfare benefit- up 25% in five years. The lives of these children have just been made more precarious, more unhealthy and more stressful. There has been a 50% increase over five years for the amount spent on hardship assistance from MSD so that even though it is so hard to access, it now costs $900,000 on an annual basis with much of that for food. What happens now? It is highly unlikely these grants will be expanded to cope with extra demand now foodbanks are having to shrink.
Where is the analysis of the inevitable social costs of cutting back on foodbank funding? All we get is patronising pie-in-the -sky glibness “we can’t tax ourselves out of this recession, we have to grow out”. And these are words from a mother of four whose family will never know anxiety about food availability or the humiliation when parents are forced to seek essential supplies from charities.
Successive governments have relied on foodbanks to fill the gaps they have allowed to widen. Until they fund an expansion of welfare benefits and Working for Families tax credits they are morally bound to continue to fund them.
Food security will obviously decrease for thousands, some “people” (aka women and kids) will be increasingly malnourished, violence, theft and shoplifting will rise.
What the CoC vandals are willing to spend money on is more prisons–including private for profit ones–getting new customers when “bottom feeders” and losers have to take desperate measures to survive.
Kneecapping food banks is as low as attacking school lunches. Rather than just end them, Act has defunded school lunches to the point where it is not viable for a number of providers who are starting to quit now also.
Principals have been quite clear that kids attention spans increased with lunches, and “hangry” behaviour decreased.
Pātaka Kai in my area, Far North, are empty within minutes of new items appearing. There is a permanent cluster of older vans at Awanui Reserve near Kaitaia, homes for a dozen groups including pensioners and younger people, a couple work but cannot afford to rent.
This country with its low population should be a land of plenty, not running a war on the poor.
What is the actual name of the group that run these premises near Awanui TM? And have they a reliable contact and email? – what?
Just an informal and changing bunch of van dwellers Greywarbler, who park there at night because it is next to a Council ablution block and has a sealed carpark. They all move on in daylight hours.
The Kaitaia does have He Korowai Trust that builds little villages of new basic housing for people agencies won’t touch–drug and alcohol free, and Northland Papa Kāinga housing is built on communal or family land, old farm cottages and out buildings are used too, so people try and house themselves, but numbers in need are large and rental dumps way overpriced.
If the truth be known in NZ 2024 the biggest challenge is actually emotional poverty.
Why do we need food banks when we have an obesity epidemic?
We have both but should not have either.
This country throws away enough food every day to feed every one comfortably.
So there is no food shortage .
Clearly there are fundamental issues which we are not willing to face up to.
Our society has become materialism heavy and human interaction light.
In fact for many folks people have become a hindrance and encumber healthy living.
People prefer retail therapy than dealing with humans who are too high maintenance.
The Kiwi has become a I want the best and I want it now entitlement junkie.
So endless retail therapy, and very selective human interaction is the go now.
Leave your locked house, drive your locked car to the mall get retail therapy get back in your locked car go home and lock your house doors. Thats the Kiwi way now.
Thousands have been rejected as being surplus to requirements or not up to standard.
These are the street people and these are the people food banks cater to.
Imagined food shortages allows us to avoid the much harder issue of emotional hunger.
So blame the people themselves or blame the left or right wing Govt. Its not our problem.
But just in case there is any residual guilt just drop a can of beans off at your
local food bank today telling them “they” are doing a great job then run away fast.
A decent summary from you, my thoughts are that too many people only want processed foods which increases the cost and calorie intake. Decent fresh food in abundance should be available at affordable prices or via home or community gardens for those prepared to make the effort.
Cut out that ‘prepared to make the effort’ Bonnie. Judgmentalist and there is no time for that. People have lost so much self-confidence and ability to think, plan for themselves.
Schools don’t teach household self management now, or trade skills, and ed is slanted to tech, screens, some sort of high jump diploma and getting a job. Meanwhile their ability to study and form regular habits is affected by living in motels, temporary hutches for the rabbits that the middle and upper class would like to dispose of – all the more for ‘us as we’ve earned it’ they mouth.
I was trying not to be judgmental, I recognize that people face many difficulties trying to survive which is compounded by a lack of resources however laziness is a factor that all of us can suffer from at times and can prevent optimum outcomes being achieved. I was lucky enough to have parents that taught me gardening etc and had enough land for a decent garden while education was free also.
Being shown how to take pride in oneself, and get benefit from one’s own efforts, and praise – reward is important. Some of these kids get no role model of satisfaction in achievement, only expect knockbacks from society after watching their family being badly treated, are opportunists so stealing to get what they want as they can’t save up. The gummint doesn’t allow savings for special reasons, it doesn’t want to provide stuff till you are sucked dry, so you need to be secretive. ‘They’ don’t want you to get on, smile, enjoy life at all. How can we wonder why people don’t put in a lot of effort into getting anything. Do it and it is likely to be stolen by gummint, your own alkie father or mother, your siblings or their friends.
You are lucky with your parents. It is definitely the way to go. And gets past down the generations if kids are lucky. That is in my mind when people are making fun of kids learning how to bake etc. Making something that you can eat yourself and share, would be a good move acshually.
Greywarbler Yep. State Schools no longer have cooking and nutrition classes as they did in my day, nor sewing and woodwork, as fas as I know. Hence my offspring produced craft objects, like sticking tiles onto cans , or hammered copper birds. Basic nutrition would also be more physically and mentally healthy than transgender ideology; likewise basic cooking skills enable cheaper and healthier eating than buying processed foodstuffs.
Basic nutrition would also be more physically and mentally healthy than transgender ideology…
A flash of memory – schools being affected by new waves of concern and ideology led in the UK to quite revealing displays of body parts to girls from a few female teachers over-enthusiastic to cut through leftover prim Victorian ignorance. (In the past some females were never allowed to look at their own bodies according to some of the novels of the Victorian period written by informed women authors. )
This trans thing is making a mountain out of a molehill that needed to be absorbed into normal human health understanding and be received respectfully by the appropriate consultants. It’s an uprising as in the 1960-70s of different generations attempting balance in society which is in an unbalanced time, resulting in a new following of a cycle of social innovation. Deja vu again!
Koina. The low wage economy must have contributed to the struggle to put food on the table and inside growing children’s bellies in homes too costly to eat, buy or rent. It’s not long since a father in work could support his family, but now households with parents working two or three jobs between them not only face an existential struggle, but are often too knackered to participate in and to contribute to the community activities which bind society. Poverty grinds people down, scars, and limits their focus to just getting by.
The KPIs they are intent on failing to achieve.
1 percent unemployment
1 percent underemployment
Living wages
Full production
Why is there no employment target?
There’s the assumption that unemployment is a choice. For most it’s not.
The concept of this government
having employment goals is
sabotaged by contradictory policies. Having a construction industry fall over, throwing billions at mega prisons, charter schools and unproductive landlord activities ( costs which escalates with every passing month as they snap up properties again ),
defunding health and hospitals,
cancelling port development , all of these create a negative blowback and
have forced unemployment on a full range of people as a consequence.
Should a nurse become a miner in Huntly now?
Should a skilled engineer now drive a digger?
Should those highly skilled nearing their sixties now take up student loans to retrain?
Should the laid off scientists in water sunstainability projects now do a mandatory WINZ course to learn how to be employed?
Unemployment also is not a stand alone state that justs needs a foodbank fix; it’s interwoven with human conditions that need social care eg. it can be caused by suffering a trauma. Its punitive effects also cause stress, depression, suicide, poverty, underlies violence and crime as some factors and effects whole families.
When a government also slashes social care including housing, slashes support agencies at these times, any of their so called ‘ employment ‘ targets are just a farcical charade and a lie.
You put that clearly O’Toole. The overall direction gets confused by the children shouting are we there yet – not knowing they are travelling to nowhere under this government.
And then heartbroken they turn back to Labour and find a small door that leads to a large uncompromising sign saying CLOSED and a pole dancing person nearby to distract you and make it all seem fun – what’s to worry about!
People’s wellbeing is not at the heart of policy. GDP growth and low public debt and govt spending is
Thats a question I ask often .We have a target to make 5% unemployed why not change that to having 99% employment .The answer is that would take too much effort and we would have no one to blame for the current lack of thinking in this government .
If you look at Food Banks as a banking problem you see that just half of the $5billion of bank profits exported to Australia each year could supply the 500,000 people in poverty with $100 of food each per week. That’s a quick source of revenue a 50 per cent tax on bank profits.
Bro trying out his bake sale skills.
That’s why Little Dave has his charter schools so as graduates and evolving adults they’ll have those ‘ productive’ skills like baking and busking whilst unemployed.
Aw c’mon, David doesn’t encourage arts and creativity.
He fosters ignorance and unquestioning obedience, hence Charter Schools/home schooling, which mostly serve to smuggle various religious cults into the education system. Nothing promotes ignorance, blind obedience and discourages reason and rational thought as much as religion does – take a look at what it is currently doing to the USA.
You really have to get away from the idea of “who deserves help” to “who needs help.”
You need to look long before both your criteria are inflicted on humans. ” WHY were they failed before needing help ?”
They clearly had a think about sorting child poverty and decided that starving them to death will fix the problem .Started with school lunches now we move on food banks .
Seymoure should be charged with mistreatment of a dumb animal.