Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
A solo mother to seven children says she stopped working and went on a benefit to better look after her family and is worried about being forced to return to work under the government's tough-love approach.
The Auckland woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said one of her children had cerebral palsy and ADHD and needed help with everyday tasks.
She was among around 20 people protesting outside the Ministry of Social Development's (MSD) office in Ellerslie on Monday, calling for an end to benefit sanctions.
"It's definitely going to affect me because I have seven children at home and they're expecting a single mum to go out and get a job," she said.
"That's a little bit tough, not saying that I want to live on a benefit for the rest of my life it's just times are tough, my children needed me first and I had to jump on a benefit to accommodate my children and some of the health issues they're going through."
Her seven children are aged between six and 16 years old, including a child she received the Unsupported Child's Benefit for - a weekly payment which helps carers supporting a child or young person whose parents can't care for them because of a family breakdown.
MSD required solo parents to seek part-time work if their youngest child was aged three to 13, including any on the Unsupported Child's Benefit.
She had so far attended all her appointments and was on the green traffic light in the new system MSD said was designed to help people better understand their obligations.
"I'm not in the red yet or the orange I'm still in the green but down the track I'm trying to prepare myself for what's to come."
The woman said she had looked into further education but needed to look after her high-needs child and was not sure how she could fit in more study or a job.
"Her needs are quite high and I have to be there quite a lot so it's definitely going to be tough."
She said it was hard making ends meet on the benefit given her weekly income was less than $1500.
"Out of that you have all your debts going out, you have your rent going out you have the needs of my disabled child that needs to go out, then food and power petrol and your children you can't do anything and asking the system for help it's tough."
"They say that sole parents are not going to be hit so tough but we don't even have a liveable wage. The wage that I'm getting now is not enough to feed my family for a week. The bare basic needs that we can get doesn't even last till a Monday, being paid on a Wednesday," she said.
"It's definitely affecting us single mums, single dads because we can't even live through the week... power's high, rent is still high in public housing and we're pretty much failing our kids not being able to provide the basic necessities for them."
Groups helping people out of poverty gathered in Auckland on Monday to call for an end to benefit sanctions and oppose new emergency housing rules they warn will push people further into financial distress.
ActionStation campaigner Vanessa Cole said people were already facing tough financial choices and more barriers for welfare support would further disadvantage those on low-incomes.
"During a cost of living crisis, where many people in our communities are having to make tough choices between food, rent and heating their homes, the government has made a political choice to ramp up sanctions on people accessing income support, and put more barriers in place to access emergency housing support."
The government has defended its plans to introduce more benefit sanctions next year and toughen up criteria for accessing emergency housing to slash the number of people relying on these.
Kick Back co-founder Aaron Hendry works with homeless young people and runs a 24-hour emergency centre for youth in Auckland - he said many young people were already struggling to find work.
"We are very concerned about the impact this government's decisions will have on the young people we serve. The most likely result of these decisions is an increase in youth homelessness, resulting in more young people shoved onto our streets, and pushed into dangerous and unsafe situations," Hendry said.
"Instead of punishing our young people, and constructing new barriers for them to climb, we should be responding to what is actually going on in their lives, and providing our young people with the love, care and support they require to thrive."
Auckland Action Against Poverty Coordinator Brooke Pao Stanley said they were concerned more benefit sanctions planned next year, including halving someone's income support onto a payment card, and placing people into community service was a step backwards.
"Our welfare system is broken and has been for some time. We need to move toward a high trust model at Work and Income, and liveable incomes for all so that people can be well, and live free of the stresses that come with surviving," she said.
In March, the government announced big changes as part of its effort to end the use of emergency housing, including a tougher approach to allowing people into emergency housing in the first place.
RNZ reported ministers were told the new rules could mean more people resorting to sleeping on the street, with nowhere else to go.
A report, penned by Ministry of Social Development staff for housing minister Chris Bishop, social development minister Louise Upston and associate housing minister Tama Potaka, contained clear warnings on "tightening the gateway" into emergency housing.
Potaka told RNZ those risks had been mitigated in a number of ways - they included extending funding for support services to help people into homes, changing policy settings to boost housing supply, and funding community housing providers for 1500 additional social homes. Those homes would not be delivered until July next year.
But Cole said they were seeing people struggle under the new rules.
"Instead, we are seeing the opposite - an attack on those who are struggling the most, and a reverse Robinhood situation where resources are going to those who have the most. While power companies and landlords make mega profits, people and families on low incomes are being driven further into poverty," she said.