A new study has found women who are homeless earn significantly less income and rely more on government support than men who are homeless.
File image: A homeless woman sleeps on a bench Photo: 123r
The Otago University research analysed data of nearly 400 men and women who were homeless before being re-housed by Housing First services.
It found women were more likely than men to be younger, Māori, and sole parents.
Dr Brodie Fraser, a research fellow at the university's He Kainga Oranga - the Housing and Health Research Programme, authored the report.
They argued it was critical knowing the difference between homeless men and women.
"To address the issue to the best of our ability, we need to know more about the different experiences of different groups, and that includes women.
"In New Zealand, about 50 percent of our overall homeless population are women, which is internationally quite rare.
"It's really important for us that we know what these experiences are, and what these women are going through."
Key points of difference between men and women
The study compared 390 men and women who had been homeless, and were then re-housed. Women made up 54 percent of the group.
The main differences between the men and women were:
- Demographically, homeless women were younger than men
- Four out of every five women were Māori while for men, two thirds were Māori
- Women had an average of 2.6 children, while men had an average of 1.6 children
- Women had significantly fewer interactions with the justice system than men, and men were more than twice as likely to have a recorded police offence
- Women spent much less time in paid employment, and were more likely to be receiving income from a benefit
- Nearly 60 percent of women received Sole Parent benefit, in comparison to just 7 percent of men
Dr Fraser said the statistics showed the welfare system was not working.
"It really just shows our benefits aren't high enough. They need to be higher, they need to be easier to access.
"These are really vulnerable people and their children deserve the best possible start in life that they can, but they're clearly not getting that if their mums are so stressed out and needing that wrap-around housing support."
The team was in the process of examining the data from when women began to interact with Housing First, and what impact that had.
Fraser said early indications showed "Housing First is really useful in helping to lessen the number of interactions with government services.
"As well as income support, we really need that wrap-around housing support, and mental healthcare, and physical healthcare as well.
"There's no one solution that's going to fix the problem, but I think we need all these government agencies to work together to support people who are experiencing homelessness."
