Kids sleep on chairs, family eats only rice to pay bills

Otago Daily Times

16-07-2025

By Amy Williams of RNZ
There are a dozen people in the Latu household in the Auckland suburb of Mangere, but not enough beds for everyone.
Three of Unaloto Latu's children have to sleep on couches in the living room.
"Those three big chairs over here, our younger children sleep here... we know that sometimes it's hard for them but they have no choice."
She and her husband have eight children aged between six and 18, and two relatives staying.
Her husband has been off work with a knee injury for about three years and their household income, reliant on the benefit, is always stretched.
They are not alone - social services said they are seeing an alarming level of poverty as families struggle with the cost of living.
Four agencies RNZ spoke to said they regularly hear of families sleeping in one room and turning off the power during the day as they try to stay warm and pay their electricity bills.
Charities - including the city missions, Variety, Kids Can and Family Works - are running winter appeals to help support families facing hardship.
Latu sells her homemade cakes to help pay for eggs and milk for her family - but it is not enough.
"Kids can go without milk, meat and bathroom stuff, cleaning stuff. Sometimes they need clothes and shoes, broken, husband can fix it he says he can get another two weeks from that."
The power and internet bills are paid but Latu said dinner is sometimes just rice - her children's schools are part of the government lunch programme.
"Sometimes if we have, we have. If not, they come [home] and just go in their room," she said.
"It's crazy right now and it looks like everything in the shop is going up each week...milk, before i can buy six [bottles] milk a week for our kids but now two."
Latu said she sometimes struggles to remain positive.
"It is so hard but I always say to my friends and family I don't want to sit down and focus on that side, because I'm a very emotional person I'm going to cry the whole day not doing anything thinking of those things. I try to keep moving forward."
Latu said she is grateful to Variety for sponsoring her children, meaning they each receive $50 a month as a contribution to household costs.
Stats NZ figures show electricity costs have gone up almost 9% since June last year. Petrol has gone up 15.5% over the same period.
Consumer NZ's annual energy retailer survey found 7% of New Zealanders have had to take out loans to pay their power bills - unchanged since last year.
Chief executive Jon Duffy said the number of people concerned about the cost of electricity has jumped 10% in the last year.
"These financial concerns have led us into a dire situation where 11% of people are underheating their homes."
Duffy said the underlying market structure needs an urgent overhaul in order to slow down the growing number of New Zealanders experiencing energy hardship.
This week, the Electricity Authority announced it would force big electricity retailers to offer cheaper prices for off-peak power use prices, and fair prices to people who sell surplus power to the grid from roof top solar panels at peak times.
It is changing sector rules to require retailers with more than five-percent market share to offer time of use prices from the middle of next year, after a report by a joint task force of the authority and the Commerce Commission.
The changes were aimed to give consumers more choice in how and when they use power, and put downward pressure on prices.
Presbyterian Support Northern general manager of social services Grenville Hendricks said this winter is worse for those on the breadline.
The organisation is helping 800 fewer families after its government funding was cut by $1.5 million last year.
"Agencies are struggling to keep their services running, let alone try and support people coming in.
"It's also a challenge when there's been issues around benefit payments, there's been reductions in the numbers of available social housing."
Hendricks said that all contributed to people struggling to pay their bills, including power.
"People are trying to manage as best they can, but given all the other circumstances that are currently happening in New Zealand with the cost of living, unemployment, reduction in social services, it means that actually the power challenge becomes exacerbated."
He said they have heard of families sleeping in one room and children sharing beds to keep warm, and that the health of those not sleeping in beds or in damp mouldy houses was suffering.
Zero Hunger Collective executive officer Tric Malcolm said she is hearing examples across the country of families struggling to pay for basics.
"What is normal now, most people wouldn't have even dreamed of several years ago."
She said for the first time in almost a decade they were hearing stories of families across the country struggling to keep their power on this winter.
"I haven't heard these stories since the global financial crisis. Families are putting the heating on in one room and sleeping in that one room so that they can save energy," Malcolm said.
"It's those moments that cause me worry and make me feel sad because people aren't able to access good dry, warm homes because they don't have enough funds in their household income."
She said people then reduce the amount that they eat.
Auckland City Missioner Helen Robinson said its services are experiencing increased demand and people would often cover their rent and utilities before buying food.
"People are making terrible, terrible choices. Do I send kids to school, do I have the power on? Do I pay for the washing machine to be fixed, do I have the power on? Do I get food?" she said.
"What we know is that the demand for food, so therefore the inadequacy of people's weekly income, is significantly increasing, so much so that we can't meet the need and I am deeply distressed to acknowledge that."
Variety sponsors about 10,000 children and chief executive Susan Glasgow said the wait list has more than 3000 children living in material deprivation.
"Unfortunately these are children all throughout New Zealand who are living in material deprivation, in cold, damp homes, sleeping on the floor, not having enough school uniforms to go around all the children in a household, they're living in really tough times."
Glasgow said they hear from families regularly who are struggling to afford to heat their homes, and they often sleep in one room sometimes with the oven on for warmth.
"New Zealand is teetering on the brink. I think if we don't take some pretty severe steps very soon we're going to see more children plunged into poverty and the long term outcomes for New Zealand are going to be dire," she said.
"We want a healthy, vibrant group of young people who can contribute to our economy, who are well educated, who can support us in our dotage. You know, it's just good for New Zealand to invest, and it's not about charity, it's about investment in our future as a country."
Unaloto Latu dreams of a bright future for her children and encourages them to help others.
"Our hope for our children, we always teach them to go to school and study hard so you can get a job that will give you what you need."
And when they have grown up, Latu has dreams of her own.
"For myself, my hope and dream is when my kids are all in good places I want to travel around the world."