<h3 style="text-align: justify;">The NZEI is backing calls for a national strategy to end homelessness amid mounting evidence that thousands of children who lack a warm safe home are also being denied their right to an education.</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Labour, Green and Māori Parties have released their report into solutions to homelessness, following a cross-party inquiry which heard from hundreds of submitters.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;The homelessness crisis affecting thousands of New Zealand children is also an educational crisis,&#8221; says Jan Tinetti, principal of decile one Merivale School in Tauranga and NZEI executive member.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;About ten percent of the children in my school are homeless, with more families coming to see me most weeks to say they&#8217;re about to lose their home.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;You can just see from looking in their eyes that these children are too tired to learn. Some of them don&#8217;t have friends, and won&#8217;t even try to make friends because they know they&#8217;ll be moving soon.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;Children in deprived communities like ours often start school behind children in more wealthy communities.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;Education should be their ticket out of poverty, but if they&#8217;re too tired or sick to learn they fall further and further behind. That&#8217;s not just a tragedy for our children its a tragedy for the entire country,&#8221; Ms Tinetti says.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The NZEI submitted to the inquiry, calling for the Government to join other parties in a collaborative approach to end homelessness and child poverty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;We support the inquiry&#8217;s recommendations, including a national strategy to end homelessness, and also the recommendation to build more affordable homes,&#8221; Ms Tinetti says.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;There is growing evidence that a lack of affordable housing in Auckland, in particular is contributing to teacher shortages.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">&#8220;We applaud the Labour, Green and Maori Parties&#8217; initiative in establishing the inquiry and we call on the Government to collaborate on cross-party solutions.&#8221;</p>

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