Inequality has Kiwi families living in garages – Salvation Army

Inequality is damaging New Zealand society, leaving families without access to affordable safe housing and with an inability to provide basic food and utilities, The Salvation Army says.

Reacting to the OXFAM report citing the income of the two richest New Zealanders as equivalent to the total income of the poorest 30 per cent, the Director of the Army’s Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, Lieut-Colonel Ian Hutson, says, ‘Inequality of this type is not socially or economically healthy for New Zealand.

‘With the nation spending over $20 million dollars just on the supply of emergency housing—and The Salvation Army last year providing well over 50,000 food parcels last year—inequality and social justice is still a goal to be achieved in New Zealand.’

Hutson called for 2017 to be a year in which New Zealand takes better care of its most vulnerable citizens. ‘Addressing our wealth gap will be a step in the journey towards a more inclusive and socially just New Zealand.’