Standard of living – housing 81. The number of applicants on the government’s Housing Register (the social housing waiting list) has more than doubled since 2017, from 5,844 in September 2017 to 13,996 in September 2019.99 There has been modest growth of 5% between 2017 and 2019 in the number of social housing units available (up 3,400 units to a total of 69,600 units by September 2019).100 82. Against this context, the prevalence of insecure housing and residential mobility among children is very high. A 2019 research report found that more than two-thirds of New Zealand children have moved home at least once by age 4.101 The report also found a linear association between residential mobility and the existence of socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties in young children, which were in turn exacerbated by both the frequency of moves and moves into areas of higher deprivation.102 83. Furthermore, in addition to the socio-economic gradient associated with respiratory illness among children (which has been found to be associated with poor housing conditions) the Child Poverty Technical Report 2019 also noted a possible association between injury rates for children living in areas of high deprivation and unsafe housing and “poorly enforced” tenant protection laws.103 We note that the government has introduced amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act aimed at increasing security of tenure for tenants.104 84. In February 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing visited New Zealand at the the government’s invitation. In her end of mission statement she described New Zealand’s housing crisis as a human rights crisis.105 She referred to the staggering level of homelessness and severe housing deprivation among young people and among Māori and Pacific people. She noted 2013 census data showing that 50% of those experiencing homelessness or severe housing deprivation are aged under 25. Of these people, 32% were Māori, 29% were Pacific, and 43% were single parents.106 85. She also referred to data from the 2018 homelessness count in Auckland which indicated 45% of the homeless population was under 18 years old. Further, 43% of those surveyed were Māori though Māori represent only 11% of the city’s total population. Similarly, single parents, particularly single mothers, Pacific peoples, SOGIESC, sex workers, and disabled people were all disproportionately represented.107 99 https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/housing/index.html Salvation Army Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit, Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Huia Tangata Kotahi – State of the Nation Report 2020, p 65 https://www.salvationarmy.org.nz/sites/default/files/files/%5Bfile_field%3Atype%5D/tsa_sotn_2020_0.pdf 101 , Nathan K, et al. Residential mobility and socioemotional and behavioural difficulties in a preschool population cohort of New Zealand children; J Epidemiol Community Health 2019; 0:1–7. doi:10.1136/jech-2019-212436, http://www.healthyhousing.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Moving-house-related-to-behavioural-difficultiesin-four-year-olds.pdf 102 ibid 103 http://nzchildren.co.nz/ 104 Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill 2020, Explanatory Note 105 https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/6015/8207/2654/End_of_Mission_Statement__Visit_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_t he_right_to_adequate_housing_to_New_Zealand__Leilani_Farha__Wellington_19_February_2020_.pdf, released 19 February 2020. 106 ibid, para 37, p 8 107 ibid para 38, p 8 100 20