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This report outlines the circumstances and experiences of a group of men who use social services, and who live outside of a defacto/marriage relationship or family household. Current social policy and social services largely focus on the needs of parents with children. It is important to ask what might be happening to people who are outside of this type of household.
For this report, men who attend (or have attended) Salvation Army men’s hostels, addiction or drop in centres in Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Invercargill, and who attend Downtown Community Ministry and the Anglican City Mission in Christchurch were asked to complete a survey and participate in a series of focus groups.
There were 168 respondents to the survey and 77 men attended the focus groups. Most of the men in the survey were aged over 40 years (70%), and were European (74%). Twenty percent of the men were Maori.
This research identified three key drivers of social need amongst this group of men and three particular service/policy problems areas.