A key impact of Auckland's housing crisis is household crowding.
What is considered to be a crowded household can vary across Aucklanders, and there is no official statistic or index of household crowding in New Zealand [see note 1].
Stats NZ reports that the Canadian National Occupancy Standard provides the best fit to measure crowding for the New Zealand context, although it is acknowledged that it may not fully align with all social and cultural norms.
This measure states that crowding occurs where a household needs one or more additional bedrooms to meet the following conditions:
- no more than two people per bedroom
- children aged between five and 18 of different genders should not share a bedroom
- single adults aged 18 years or over should have their own bedroom.
Using this definition, the 2018 Census showed that: