LGBTQI+ New Zealanders have been experiencing severe housing deprivation at higher rates than non-LGBTQI+ — according to world-first Census data out today.
The numbers collected in the 2023 Census show at that time, 261 per 10,000 LGBTQI+ people aged 15 and over (4413) were estimated to be living in severe housing deprivation.
The rate was 212 per 10,000 who are not LGBTQI+.
The LGBTQI+ population had higher proportions of people affected across all categories of homelessness — those without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing someone else’s private dwelling, and those in uninhabitable housing.
The highest deprivation rates were among Pacific peoples.
University of Otago Senior Research Fellow Brodie Fraser told 1News that it was “a big deal” for Aotearoa to be the first in the world to have all-of-population data on LGBTQI+ homelessness, showing how disproportionately affected this community is.
They said it was commonplace for members of the rainbow community to take one another in, to prevent people from living on the streets, when they were not accepted anywhere else.
“It can put a big strain on relationships.”
They said often the public was unaware of the scale of the problem.
“There’s not many of us doing this sort of research in New Zealand and you can feel a little bit lonely sometimes just kind of shouting into the void.”
They hoped the data would bring impetus to a Government response, with targeted help.
“It’s brushed off where [some leaders] say, well, ‘we don’t know the scale of the problem, so how are we going to do anything about it if we, you know, we don’t even have that basic data, so it’s too hard’. And now we finally got this data.”
Stats NZ said it’s the first time anywhere in the world such information has been collected in a census. (Source: 1News)
At the time of the 2023 Census, at least 112,496 people overall (2.3% of the census usually resident population) were estimated to be severely housing deprived.
That’s up around 13,000 people on the 2018 figures.
Approximately 34,557 people with Māori ethnicity were estimated to be housing deprived, with over one-third aged under 15.
“For tamariki Māori who were experiencing severe housing deprivation, living in uninhabitable housing was the most common living situation, affecting 61.5% of tamariki under 15 who were estimated to be severely housing deprived,” Stats NZ said.
Nearly 29,000 Pacific peoples were estimated to be severely housing deprived, with over one-third of those aged under 15.
