That was the response of Salvation Army Dunedin community ministries manager Logan Bathurst, who said local families continued to battle tough times.
Released last week, the report — titled Foundations of Wellbeing — Poipoia te Kākano — highlights rising hardship for whānau, fewer opportunities and increased pressure on basic living conditions.
Salvation Army social policy and parliamentary unit director Dr Bonnie Robinson said "the past two years have been incredibly hard for communities".
"Families are doing their best, but the systems around them are not giving them a fair chance."
"We see resilience every day at the frontline of our services.
"But we also see barriers. Many families are doing everything they can under enormous constraints," Dr Robinson said.
The report’s key findings include that child poverty and material hardship are rising, particularly among Maori and Pasifika children; unemployment has increased and cost-of-living pressures remain high; and housing instability remains a major barrier, with unaffordable rents and rising homelessness disrupting education, employment and wellbeing.
Mr Bathurst said the same trends were occurring in Dunedin, with families struggling to afford basic costs and facing housing instability.
"We have seen a 30% increase in the number of people coming to us for food support through our foodbank," he said.
Last year, 700 Dunedin households were accessing food on a regular basis, with a jump in demand at Christmas time.
"We have seen about a 10% increase in people facing severe financial issues — just not having the money to cover basic bills," he said.
"Those short-term users of our services might be people with a big power bill they can’t afford, or their car may have broken down, or they may have to pay for an emergency dentist visit — there can be many reasons."
A significant proportion of the financial issues faced by Salvation Army clients came through the challenges of securing and affording housing.
"Accommodation is the number one issue for our clients — many people are couch surfing, flat surfing, in and out of cars and living in transitional housing."
Mr Bathurst said it was concerning that the demand for Salvation Army support services continued to rise year after year.
"The Salvation Army State of the Nation report shows a longer term trend of people facing increase hardship and that is showing no signs of changing."
Mr Bathurst said the other trend being seen by Salvation Army staff in Dunedin was an increase in people experiencing significant mental health challenges accessing services.
"We believe that some of this is people falling through the cracks of the health system and some of it is the impact of stress.
"Constantly dealing with financial problems and housing instability definitely causes increased stress and anxiety — it’s tough for people to deal with."
Mr Bathurst said the Salvation Army in Dunedin offered a broad range of services, including its foodbank, transitional and social housing, as well as its Social Cafe.
He was looking forward to the imminent arrival of the Orange Sky charity in Dunedin in April, bringing its laundry pod service.
This would be set up at the Salvation Army HQ in Princes St.
"We are excited that they are coming here — it’s a great service."
In its report, the Salvation Army has urged government, iwi, community partners and business leaders to prioritise long-term investment in prevention, reintegration, affordable housing and culturally grounded wellbeing support, with a special focus on making measurable progress in decreasing rates of child poverty.
