Children in the household type
Only the dependent children of applicable people are included as children in the household type for the calculation of Income Related Rent.
A dependent child for social housing purposes is a child who is:
- primarily the responsibility of the client
- being maintained as a member of that family
- financially dependent on the client
A child is a single person under the age of 18 years, other than a person who is:
- 16 or 17 years old and
- financially independent
A child may also include a person who is 18 for a limited period if they are:
- continuing in education and
- not financially independent
Child not to be included in household type
A child is not to be included in the household type when the:
- client has shared care/carer of the child and the child stays in the house for less than 6 overnight stays per fortnight
- child is a child for whom the Orphan's Benefit, Unsupported Child's Benefit, or Foster Care Allowance is being paid
- child is a dependent child of an additional occupant or
- child is 18 years or over and they fall outside the above guidelines for inclusion
Note although these children are not included in the household type for calculating Income Related Rent, they may be considered as dependent children or additional occupants for the purposes of eligibility for social housing and be allocated a bedroom.
Care and protection concerns
If MSD believes any child has been, or is likely to be harmed (physically, emotionally or sexually), ill-treated, abused, neglected, deprived or MSD has concerns about the wellbeing of the child, the case must be referred to Oranga Tamariki.
For more information see:
- Household types and income thresholds
- Assessment of eligibility Dependent child for eligibility purposes
- Assessment of eligibility Additional occupants
- Assessment of eligibility Bedroom allocation table
- Care and protection concerns for a child or young person
- Core policy Child turns 18
