1. WOF for Rental Housing - Child Poverty NZ Solutions
Channel: ChildPovertyNZ
Date: 30/04/2013

Did you know that over 1 in 4 Kiwi kids lives in poverty? That's 270,000 children. Enough to fill our biggest rugby stadium five and a half times.

These could be the doctors and nurses we need to look after our aging population. Our scientists, artists, entrepreneurs. Our future all blacks and silver ferns. But what does living in poverty mean in New Zealand? 

It means too many Kiwi kids live in rental or temporary accommodation, sleeping in damp and mouldy bedrooms, spending winter in a house that is too expensive to heat.

Living like this makes our kids sick - Almost 190,000 had serious health problems in the last year. Things like pneumonia, rheumatic fever and meningococcal disease. Babies and pre-schoolers are particularly vulnerable as they spend most of their time at home. But it doesn't have to be this way. 

If New Zealand introduced a WOF for private and public rental housing we could make sure that no child has to live in a cold, damp, poorly maintained home. 

The current regulations for rental housing date back to 1947. It's hard to believe, but some rental properties don't even meet basic standards for sanitation or safety. It's time we got our act together and provided better insulated homes which are more affordable to heat.

If it's good enough for our cars, then why not our kids?

Credits:
Written & voiced by Siouxsie Wiles. 
Recorded by Neil Morrison. 
Commissioned by Jilly Evans. 
Animated by http://MohawkMedia.co.nz

Published under Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA (Attribution - Non Commercial - Share Alike) License.

This is the first in a series of animations launched at the workshop 'Investing In Our Nation's Kids Solutions to Child Poverty in New Zealand' (http://tinyurl.com/cy9rlpo) in March 2013. The statistics and recommendations are drawn from the report to the Children's Commissioner on Solutions to Child Poverty in New Zealand: http://www.occ.org.nz/publications/child_poverty