Five per cent of New Zealand houses lack at least one of six basic amenities including drinkable tap water, electricity, a toilet, and a kitchen sink, a new report from the He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme at the University of Otago, Wellington has found. The researchers analysed the 2018 New Zealand Census to assess residents’ access to drinkable tap-water, electricity, cooking facilities, a kitchen sink, a toilet, and a bath or shower. The lead author of the report, Helen Viggers, says drinkable tap water (3.3 per cent) and electricity (1.8 per cent) were the amenities that residents were most frequently living without.