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Napier Social Mo nito r 20 09 Community Development Empowering You ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION The Napier Social Monitor survey sets out a framework for considering social well being and provided important information about what is happening to the quality of life of Napier Citizens. The surveys are normally conducted in October or November and the key findings are reported back to Council by March of the following year. Previous surveys were undertaken in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2007. The 2009 report presents the results undertaken during October and November 2008. A total of 400 residents were surveyed. The results were weighted against age and gender to account for sampling differences and ensure the results were representative of the Napier population. The content of the report is descriptive only and provides a snapshot of the respondents’ status in respect to a limited number of variables. It provides a general, but brief, insight into the social status of a small number of local residents of Napier. The survey has been completed by a Rotorua based specialist survey company, APR Consultants Ltd, which involved telephone-based random questioning of Napier households/residents from all parts of the City, on a wide range of social issues. Items measured relate to housing, health, safety, employment, education and training, vehicle and Internet access, nature of community and community relationships. The key information from the survey particularly the trends of the social conditions are used as a tool to support the activities and potential projects, where relevant, by the Community Development Department. The survey is linked to Council’s Long Term Community Council Plan and is part of the Community Advice activity management plan. The value of this survey is that it adds to the pool of knowledge for the Council and should be read in conjunction with other information such as the Napier/Hawke’s Bay Economic Performance report, the Communitrak survey and the latest Census data. A supplementary of the ‘QuickStats about Napier City’ based on Census 2006 produced by Statistics NZ is also attached to use as a point of reference at the back of the report. The Napier City Council’s Community Development Department has produced these community surveys since 1998 on an annual basis then changed to a survey done every second year stating from 2003. We would also like to extend a warm thanks to all respondents for their time and appreciate their comments and feedback to these surveys. Paul Faleono Community Advisor Community Development Napier City Council Napier Social Monitor 2009 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report presents the results of the Napier Social Monitor Survey undertaken during October and November 2009. A total of 400 residents were surveyed to identify their level of satisfaction with living in Napier. The results were weighted against ethnicity to account for sampling differences and ensure the results were representative of the Napier population. Items measured relate to housing, health, safety, employment, education and training, vehicle and Internet access, nature of the community and community relationships. Note that previous surveys were undertaken in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. The key findings are summarised in this section and detailed in the report that follows. Housing • The majority of respondents (94.1%) were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied with their current housing in Napier. • Nearly three-quarters (73.8%) of respondents indicated that they owned their own home, while one-quarter (25.2%) rented. Health • A total of 88.5% of respondents rated their personal health as excellent, very good or good while 10.1% rated their health as poor and 1.4% as extremely poor. • Over four-fifths (86.6%) of respondents identified that they (or a person in their care) had visited a doctor, hospital or other medical/health service in the last six months. • 90.0% of those seeking healthcare from a doctor or Medical Health Service reported no problems with this service, while 8.9% reported some problems. • 68.3% of those seeking healthcare at Hawke’s Bay Hospital reported no problems with this service, while 27.6% reported some problems. Safety • Almost all respondents (93.8%) rated their feeling of safety for themselves and other family members as average or better, while 6.2% of respondents stated that they do not feel safe. Safety concerns specified included burglary, attacks, abuse and violence, going out at night and youth. • Suggestions to make respondents feel safer included increasing Neighbourhood Watch groups, increasing police levels, developing better street lighting and CCTV systems, handing down harsher sentences, improving Police response time, cracking down on drugs, removing the gang presence from the streets and improvements in Civil Defence operations. APR Consultants Ltd 1 Napier Social Monitor 2009 Education and Training • One-fifth of respondents (21.4%) had been involved in post-secondary education and/or training in the previous 12 months. Respondents had received their training from a range of providers from within and outside the region. • Most (80.5%) of the respondents who undertook training indicated that the training provided them with the skills they required. • Half of the respondents (50.4%) reported that they would consider undertaking future education or training in a topic that interests them, 45.2% reported that they would not. • Barriers to continuing with education or training included financial reasons, age, lack of interest and lack of time. Employment • Over one-third (34.2%) of respondents were employed full-time, 28.0% of respondents were parenting, had home duties or were retired and 14.6% were employed part-time. A further 14.8% were unemployed or on a benefit and 2.4% were undertaking education/training. • Over two-thirds (68.2%) of respondents who were not working did not want to gain employment. • Three-quarters (75.2%) of respondents that had part-time employment indicated a preference to remain in part-time work and 12.7% indicated that they would like full- time employment. • Over three-quarters of respondents (89.1%) had only one job and 8.0% had more than one. • Employment concerns related to the economic downturn, low wage rate, being made redundant and lack of work to do/maintaining profits. Community Relationships • Over half of survey respondents (53.8%) rated the current relationship between different ethnic groups in Napier as very satisfactory or fairly satisfactory and 32.6% rated the relationship as sometimes satisfactory and sometimes not. A total of 6.0% of respondents believed the relationship was not very satisfactory (4.0%) or not at all satisfactory (2.0%). Caring Community • Almost all (88.8%) of respondents indicated that they perceived Napier as being a good, very good or excellent caring community. • Only 7.5% of respondents consider Napier as being a poor or extremely poor caring community. • Over one quarter of respondents (29.1%) undertook regular voluntary work. Barriers to undertaking volunteer community work included age (too old), health issues, lack of time, self employed situation, commitments both work and personal, time and having a young family. APR Consultants Ltd Napier Social Monitor 2009 • 11.3% of respondents were members of voluntary social service groups. • 21.1% of respondents used local social service organisations, while 78.6% did not. Quality of Life • 56.9% of respondents reported that their quality of life has improved over the previous five years, while 38.4% reported no improvement. • 43.8% of respondents expected their quality of life to improve, while 32.2% expected their quality of life would stay the same. 15.5% expected their quality of life to deteriorate. Future Issues • Respondents were asked to identify how much opportunity they felt they had to express their views about the future direction of Napier city and New Zealand: o For Napier: A total of 27.7% of respondents stated plenty or quite a lot, 25.4% stated just enough, while 37.7% stated very little or none or virtually none. o For New Zealand: Approximately one-third (38.3%) of respondents stated that they had an opportunity to have a say, however 55.0% believe they had very little or no chance to have a say. Access • Almost all (91.8%) of respondents had access to a vehicle during the day. • Almost all (83.3%) of respondents had access to the Internet. Sample Demographics The following demographics are weighted by ethnicity to match 2006 census. • The highest household income brackets for respondents were $50,001 and over (40.0%), $20,001-$30,000 (13.5%), $40,001-$50,000 (10.8%) and $15,001-$20,000 (10.7%). • Half of the respondents (58.0%) identified themselves as New Zealand Pakeha/European followed by New Zealand Maori (14.6%), Asian (2.1%) or Pacific Island (2.1%). • Over two-thirds (69.3%) of respondents had lived in Napier for more than ten years. • The most identified suburbs where respondents lived were Taradale (19.0%), Greenmeadows (12.8%), Marewa (12.6%), Maraenui (11.9%) and Onekawa (10.4%). • Survey respondents were 51.9% female and 48.1% male. APR Consultants Ltd Napier Social Monitor 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................ 1 2.0 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 5 3.0 METHODOLOGY..........................................................................................