Housing in Aotearoa fails to meet cultural needs of Pasifika, report finds

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

A new report finds housing in Aotearoa is not meeting the needs of the Pacific community.

New Zealand housing is not meeting the cultural needs of Pacific people and that lack is causing inequality, a new report says.

Pacific Housing: People, Place and Wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand, released by Statistics New Zealand on Wednesday, analysed data from the 2018 Census.

Living in large houses can improve wellbeing in Pacific families and prevent loneliness, the report found, but the affordability and availability of suitable housing creates issues.

“Our growing Pacific population is often unsupported by our current housing,” Statistics New Zealand wellbeing and housing statistics manager Sarah Drake said.

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“Particularly in large urban areas like Auckland where Pacific people are most likely to be located – and where even unsuitable housing can be impossible to rent or own.”

Pacific people are more likely to rely on the rental market for housing, with 65% living in rental homes compared to 36% of the general population.

“Pacific people often live in larger family groups where intergenerational living can support language transmission,” Drake said.

“In 2018, children were more likely to speak a Pacific language if they lived with family members who also spoke it.”

Fifty-seven per cent of Pacific households had five or more residents, and living with more people led to lower rates of loneliness.

The average family wellbeing score for Pacific people in 2021 was 8.1 out of 10, compared to 7.7 out of 10 for the total population.

But the report said the types of homes needed to support large families can be expensive or unavailable.

Nearly 40% of Pacific people live in a home that requires additional bedrooms for the number of people living in it.

“Despite the benefits of living in larger family groups, homes that are too small for the number of occupants can be linked to a range of negative housing outcomes, which can in turn affect health and wellbeing,” Drake said.

Pacific people often lived in homes that were cold, mouldy, damp or in need of repairs which led to poorer physical, mental health and life satisfaction.

Shortage of suitable housing placed a burden on the Pacific population, the report said. The worst consequence of that was severe housing deprivation.

The homeless prevalence rate for Pacific people was 578 out of 10,000 compared with 217 out of 10,000 for the total population.

The report concluded that housing in Aotearoa often does not meet the cultural needs of Pacific peoples, resulting in inequitable access to adequate housing.

But despite these difficulties, Pacific peoples are resilient, with strong social networks and high family wellbeing.

“Too often Pacific peoples' housing is too small for their families and of poor quality or they can't even access a home to live in,” the report said.

'Housing inequity places a burden on Pacific peoples, and negatively affects wellbeing.'