It's estimated more than 4000 18 and 19-year-olds will soon be ineligible for the Jobseeker benefit. This follows the government's announcement that parents earning more than $65,529 are expected to support their children if they can’t find work.
The move is intended to incentivise young people to get a job and avoid the welfare “trap”, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says.
“With recent modelling suggesting that people under the age of 25 on Jobseeker Support will spend an average of 18 or more years on a benefit over their lifetimes,” she adds.
But where does this leave young people who aren’t safe to live at home? It’s an issue which disproportionately impacts rainbow and takatāpui communities.
Research shows internationally 20-40% of those experiencing homelessness are from rainbow communities, despite only comprising 5-10% of the general population.
“I fear that this change could result in increased family violence and tensions, in a climate where whānau are already struggling,” managing director of rainbow charity InsideOUT Kōaro Tabby Beasley says.
Content warning: This article discusses suicide, self-harm, homophobia, and family violence.
‘I couldn’t survive at home’
Jo* has never known what stability feels like. Whether it was a different house, school, or even country, they never stayed in one place for long. The feeling of having a space or a person to come 'home' to, to feel safe with, wasn't one they could ever relate to.
Instead, Jo’s ‘home’ was marked by physical abuse, emotional neglect, suicidal thoughts, police calls to the house, social work reports and a constant sense of danger.
“My mum was physically abusing me. Hitting was discipline,” they say.
“If I didn’t do what she liked, she’d slap me. Once she smashed my phone with a hammer, one time she tried to strangle me.”
Jo is not their real name. They are kept anonymous in this story for privacy and safety reasons. Jo says the abuse was always part of living at home, but it only escalated when they came out as queer, and later as trans.
“My mum thought I was being brainwashed. That Western influence was making me queer. She freaked out. Tried to fix me. She wanted to send me to Australia to ‘cure’ me. But you can’t fix being trans. It’s not something you choose.”
‘I had a plan since I was 13’
Jo has been planning how to leave home since the age of 13, three years before the legal age for leaving home in New Zealand.
While most 13-year-olds are worried about body changes and friend groups, Jo was worried about what proof they would need for people to believe them. How much money they would need to survive on their own. Or who they could trust to try and help them.
“I found out what self-harm was at 12 and said, ‘I’d never do that.’ A few months later, I tried it. By 13 I was suicidal. I just wanted the pain to stop.”
The stress and trauma of living with their mum became so debilitating, Jo started to lose feeling in her legs and now lives with chronic pain and a mobility disorder.
“The doctor told me that when you have extreme stress and trauma, your brain can start to shut down. But it won’t shut down like you think it would, it will start disconnecting from certain parts of your body physically and you lose mobility. Your nervous system is just constantly in a place of fight or flight and it gives in.”
Jo knew they couldn’t keep living at home, but the process for getting out took multiple attempts of running away and eventually refusing to go home after they were hospitalised when they temporarily lost feeling in their legs.
"I tried to leave [the hospital] without telling anybody but ended up finding a nurse and broke down crying. She asked me ‘What are you doing?’ and I said ‘I think I'm going to go sleep under a bridge at this rate’.”
A teenager navigating the system
After being assessed by social workers, Jo got into emergency housing and says they spent hours filling in forms to get on a benefit and finding evidence to prove why it wasn’t safe for them to live at home.
“Work and Income already knew what was going on, so I worked out how to get an IRD number, I got a youth coach, and I called WINZ about 50 times.”
“The difference between me and a lot of people in my situation is that I had this planned out. I knew they were going to ask for proof. I had already thought about going to the police station, getting all the files. After not being believed my whole life, I already knew how I was going to prove everything. But the process was traumatic,” they say.
“I was angry at every adult in my life that had let me down."
Jo’s experience reflects the reality for many rainbow rangatahi who are navigating the system while in crisis. “I was making phone calls, filling out forms, screenshotting job listings, trying to find housing. I was doing everything. My youth worker said, ‘I’ve never seen a young person work as hard as you have’,” they say.
“Proving it to WINZ was the last thing I wanted. It was the last place I wanted to go because I knew how hard it was. But it was my only option.”
Jo worries that if Jobseeker criteria changes for 18-19-year-olds in November 2026, they will have to go through this process again or have their benefit cut.
Proving a parental support gap
Ministry of Social Development general manager for policy Fiona Carter-Giddings told Re: News in a statement, young people who can’t rely on parental support will still be able to apply for Work and Income assistance if a “parental support gap exists”.
“The parental support gap test will consider a range of factors, such as a young person’s relationship with their parents, or whether one or both parents are in long-term hospital care or prison,” she says.
But the design of the parental support gap test and what this will specifically cover is not yet clear and will be finalised before legislation is introduced next year.
However, Carter-Giddings says Work and Income can use information it already has to determine whether a parental support gap exists.
“MSD or another government agency may have previously determined that a person cannot rely on their parents.
“For example, someone transferring directly from Youth Payment to Jobseeker Support has generally already demonstrated a parental support gap. In those circumstances, the existence of a parental support gap would not need to be re-examined.”
Other factors like whether a parent’s income who lives outside of New Zealand will be counted towards the $65,529 threshold, are also undetermined.
“As part of our standard process when designing policy, we have considered the potential impacts of this policy for a wide range of people and communities, including rainbow rangatahi.”
Rainbow support groups critical of changes
Jo sees the tightening of Jobseeker criteria as another safety net for rainbow rangatahi becoming restricted, with rainbow support services like InsideOUT and Rainbow YOUTH experiencing a decrease in funding.
Rainbow YOUTH, a charity that provides peer support for rainbow rangatahi, says funding across the sector at this time has become “increasingly difficult” and, like many other charities, it has seen a “significant drop” in funding it once relied on.
Despite gaining a 3% increase in funding from Health NZ, it says donations and support from other private oganisations and donors has decreased.
“RainbowYOUTH has focused on maintaining our existing support services, but limited funding has restricted our ability to expand our services, despite the clear and growing need,” executive director of Rainbow Youth Amber Gribble says.
Gribble says Jo’s “heartbreaking” story is not uncommon among the rangatahi they work with – but “must be taken seriously in these situations, rather than being dismissed, as they too often are”.
“Those in unsafe home environments already face major barriers to accessing support independently,” she says. “On top of this, they're often required to meet an unrealistic burden of proof to access financial assistance from Work and Income.”
‘Clear and transparent’ measures need to be in place
InsideOUT, a national charity providing education, resources, and support for rainbow and takatāpui communities, says it is also grappling with reduced funding after attracting fewer donations and workshop training bookings - which is part of their social enterprise arm.
This is despite also gaining a 3% increase in funding from Health NZ.
“We have had to tap into our reserves significantly to keep our services running to the same level and may be facing difficult decisions in the future if things don't turn around,” managing director of InsideOUT Kōaro Tabby Beasley says.
Beasley says the organisation is “extremely concerned” by the Government’s announcement as it “appears to be extremely ignorant of the current context we're in”.
“There are minimal jobs available, let alone for young people at entry-level, along with the financial realities facing many parents. The young people we come into contact with are often excited to enter the workforce if they are able, but are struggling significantly to be considered when there are so few opportunities and such high unemployment.”
She says the experiences of rainbow rangatahi have not been considered with this announcement.
“This is a group of young people who often experience family harm and breakdowns, who face higher rates of unemployment and are more likely to be discriminated against when applying for jobs. There is also a significant overlap between rainbow and disabled young people, who also face extra barriers to employment.”
Beasley is calling on the government to provide “clear and transparent guidance on the process to evidence a family breakdown” to help reduce anxiety for young people who may be worried about how these changes will affect them, which includes recognition of transphobia and homophobia as part of family harm.
Beasley says Work and Income staff should also be required to undergo training to understand the nuances of what family violence can look like for rainbow rangatahi.
“Without these kinds of measures, the government will be further contributing to poverty and harm of an already vulnerable group of young people who deserve care and protection.”
In response, Carter-Giddings from the Ministry of Social Development said training is made available to all MSD staff about how to support rainbow clients.
“It emphasises that rainbow rangatahi are disproportionately likely to live away from their parents, feel unsafe at home, and experience violence. We employ specialist staff who may provide extra support in some cases – for example, if someone has been the victim of family or sexual violence.
“We know it can be a complex process when people apply for support. Our staff can help people through it, and we encourage anyone to bring a support person with them, if they wish to do so.”
Additionally, Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey told Re: News it has funded the Access and Choice programme which provides free community mental health and addiction services across the country.
“Part of this programme has included a $4.4 million package for primary mental health and addiction services for rainbow young people and to deliver rainbow competency training to mental health and addiction workforces,” he says.
‘This isn’t going to end well’
Since being on the benefit, Jo has completed work training and has been placed into permanent social housing. But says work opportunities are limited with her disability, as they aren’t able to stand for long periods of time.
“I'd like to get off the benefit as soon as I can. I don’t want to be on the benefit, I never did,” Jo says. “It was just my only option. But my options for work are limited.”
Looking forward, Jo fears for the 4300 rangatahi who are predicted to have their Jobseeker benefit cut. “People are going to starve. People are going to kill themselves. This isn’t going to end well.”
Where to get help:
1737: The nationwide, 24/7 mental health support line. Call or text 1737 to speak to a trained counsellor.
Suicide Crisis Line: Free call 0508 TAUTOKO or 0508 828 865. Nationwide 24/7 support line operated by experienced counsellors with advanced suicide prevention training.
Youthline: Free call 0800 376 633, free text 234. Nationwide service focused on supporting young people.
OUTLine NZ: Freephone 0800 OUTLINE (0800 688 5463). National service that helps LGBTIQ+ New Zealanders access support, information and a sense of community.
Rainbow YOUTH: a charity who provides peer support for rainbow rangatahi.
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