Occupied Dwelling Type

Classification criteria

The criteria for the occupied dwelling type classification are defined by the structure and the function of the dwelling. Private and non-private dwellings must be occupied to be included. The criteria required for private dwellings are whether they are a separate dwelling or joined to another, and how many storeys there are in the dwelling. The criteria used to classify non-private dwellings are the function of the dwelling and whether it is an institution.

Classification

The occupied dwelling type classification is derived from the following input variables:

• dwelling description
• dwelling record type classification (private or non-private)
• number of storeys

Occupied dwelling type is a hierarchical classification with three levels. Excluding residual categories:

• Level 1 has two categories and classifies dwellings as either private or non-private.
• Level 2 has seven categories. These provide more detail on the type of private dwelling (with four categories from the dwelling description classification), and types of non-private dwelling (with three categories - one for institutions).
• Level 3 has 31 categories and provides more information on the type of dwelling - whether private or non-private. Here private dwelling categories contain more details on the type of structure as well as the number of storeys; non-private dwelling categories provide details on the type of institution; other non-private dwelling categories contain categories such as hotels, training camps, and marae.

Coding Process

Guidance to support best practice in the collection and output of occupied dwelling type.

1. A private dwelling may take several forms, including:

• Houses, flats, units, townhouses, or apartments
  These may be stand alone or joined together. Generally they will be fully self-contained but there may be exceptions, for instance where several flats share a toilet, laundry, or kitchen.
  
• Dwellings in a motor camp
  Any caravan, campervan, house bus, cabin, unit, tent, or improvised dwelling in a motor camp that has permanent residents and is therefore not generally available for public use.
  
• Mobile dwellings
  Any mobile dwelling, on water or land, that is not in a motor camp, such as houseboats, campervans, mobile homes, house buses, house trucks, caravans, and tents. They are intended to be transportable and movable but may be fixed in one location.
  
• Improvised dwellings
  Dwellings or shelters not necessarily erected for human habitation but which are occupied. The structure will support a roof of some kind, no matter how roughly fashioned or makeshift, and will lack some or all of the usual household amenities such as electric lighting, piped water, bathroom, toilet, and kitchen/cooking facilities. For example, shacks, garages, and private vehicles other than those designed as, or converted into, dwellings.
  
• Places of habitation with no dwelling
  Public or outdoor areas, not intended for human habitation but which are occupied, including public parks, bus shelters, under bridges, on beaches, in caves, train stations, doorways, and private property such as car parks, and farm land are included in the roofless or rough sleeper category.
  

2. In terms of housing provision, dwellings in a motor camp, mobile dwellings, improvised dwellings and places of habitation with no dwelling are not considered part of the housing stock. However, for collection purposes:

• survey field staff must establish whether any dwellings in a motor camp have permanent residents, and these are treated as private dwellings
  
• mobile dwellings, improvised dwellings and places of habitation with no dwelling are counted as private dwellings if they are occupied by a person or a group of people.

3. Mobile dwellings are included in the scope of longitudinal surveys regardless of their location.

4. Self-contained living quarters should be counted as separate private dwellings. These include:

• self contained granny flats and sleep outs which, if occupied, are occupied by a separate household that does not live and eat with the occupants of the main dwelling
  
• self-contained living accommodation attached to or above a business or shop
  
• apartments and flats in large complexes, including managers' quarters of non-private establishments (hotels, motels, backpackers, rest homes), and self-contained dwellings in New Zealand military camps
  
• self-contained units in retirement villages.

5. Privately owned or leased accommodation within a non-private establishment is counted as a private dwelling; for example, a self-contained suite in a hotel that is not available for public use, self-contained nurses' accommodation in a hospital complex, or self-contained staff accommodation for live-in staff in an educational institution.

6. An occupied caravan on a residential property with another dwelling is counted as a separate private dwelling unless the occupants of the caravan live and eat with the occupants of the main dwelling.

7. Emergency and family homes run by a range of social support agencies are enumerated as private dwellings. This ensures the occupants are included in the household and family statistics collected from private dwellings and avoids the need for enumerators to separately identify such dwellings, which, from visual inspection, can be indistinguishable from any other private dwelling. Safety is also a consideration in relation to women's refuges and Child, Youth and Family (CYF) family homes. Statistics NZ has entered into a formal agreement to enumerate women's refuges as private dwellings in the census so their locations cannot be identified. Household surveys generally will not interview at these addresses if the nature of the residence becomes apparent during the course of interviewer contact, even though they may be on enumeration lists. Note the distinction between CYF family homes and CYF 'residences'. The residences typically have a secure unit and are classified as non-private welfare institutions.

8. Where people offer board or lodging to paying guests in their own homes (such as bed and breakfast, farm stay, home stay, or families hosting foreign students or boarders), these are counted as private dwellings unless the main intent is for the dwelling to be used as a facility for boarders or paying guests (see the non-private dwelling guidelines). If there is doubt about the private or non-private status of the dwelling then the following characteristics may be taken as indicative of a non-private dwelling:

• the establishment is open to guests at the time of the data collection, or enumeration date for household surveys, (some may operate only in certain seasons rather than on a year-round basis), and has the capacity to accommodate 5 or more boarders or guests
• it is known as a bed and breakfast hotel
• it is purpose-built to provide guest accommodation.
  

Note: If the establishment is run by a manager who does not live in the dwelling then it is counted as a non-private dwelling.

9. Where people live in a supported housing situation within the community (such as housing for those with disabilities) these are counted as private dwellings unless the main intent is for the dwelling to be used as a residential care facility (see the non-private dwelling guidelines). If there is doubt about the private or non-private status of the dwelling then the following characteristic may be taken as indicative of a non-private dwelling:

• the establishment has the capacity to provide care for five or more people with disabilities or other supported residents.

10. Serviced apartments are counted as private dwellings if they are being used by the owner or leased out, that is, are not commercial accommodation at the time of the census or at the enumeration date for household surveys. If it is not possible to determine if an apartment is a commercially serviced apartment, the apartment is treated as a private dwelling unless the whole building is a non-private dwelling.

11. People found in places of habitation with no dwelling are classified as 'roofless or rough sleepers'. This includes people found camping out in the open (i.e. not under cover) in a reserve, or on a beach. Those in tents are counted in the mobile dwellings category.

The terms 'roofless' and 'sleeping rough' are sometimes used interchangeably, and as synonyms for homelessness. Rough sleeping is also known as sleeping on the street and has been associated with street kids. Sleeping rough will not necessarily reflect the wider circumstances of individuals that may be relevant to the measurement of homelessness, such as whether rough sleeping is an ongoing situation or an exception.

When producing census output tables, restricting the occupied dwelling type data to households will ensure that it reflects people's usual living circumstances by eliminating those who don't usually live in these ‘places of habitation with no dwelling’.

Note: The United Nations' Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (Revision 2, 2008) includes caves under “informal dwellings”. However, in New Zealand, natural shelters are not included in the meaning of a dwelling under the Statistics Act 1975.

12. Non-private dwellings include:

• Residential care for older people
  Accommodation/care for older people with the provision of meals/laundry as a minimum requirement. This includes facilities providing medical or nursing care to older people. Includes rest homes, continuing care hospitals, dementia units, and rest home serviced apartments. Excludes independent self-care flats or houses within a retirement village or complex.
  
• Public hospitals
  Includes long-stay facilities such as public psychiatric hospitals, public maternity hospitals, public health camps and public hospices.
  
• Private hospitals
  Includes private maternity hospitals and private hospices.
  
• Residential and community care homes
  Provide supported housing for people in the community. Includes houses providing care for people with disabilities; group homes (such as IHC group homes); staffed residential accommodation; or halfway houses. Includes only those establishments where the main intent is for the dwelling to be used as a residential care facility. If there is doubt about the private or non-private status of the dwelling then the following characteristic may be taken as indicative of a non-private dwelling: the establishment has the capacity to provide care for five or more people with disabilities, or other supported residents:
  • the establishment has the capacity to provide care for five or more people with disabilities, or other supported residents.
    
• Educational institutions
  An institution that offers educational instruction and accommodation, including school hostels, seminaries, theological colleges, and university halls of residence.
  
• Welfare institutions
  Institutions providing residential care for disadvantaged groups in society. Includes church hostels, CYF residences, and drug recovery centres.
  
• Religious institutions
  Includes convents, monasteries, and church retreats.
  
• Prison, penal institutions
  Includes police cells, remand centres, courthouse cells, and corrective institutions for youth.
  
• Defence establishments
  Includes armed forces camps, navy bases, and navy vessels. Excludes residential areas containing private dwellings with self-contained private facilities.
  
• Night shelters
  Establishments that provide low-cost or free emergency accommodation for people who do not have a usual residence. Accommodation is short term and on a night-by-night basis.
  
• Hotels, motels, backpackers, guest accommodation, and youth hostels
  Includes time-share units and holiday homes operated by organisations, backpackers, bed and breakfast hotels, and youth hostels such as YHA, YMCA, and YWCA, which operate commercial guest accommodation.
  
  Bed and breakfasts, farm stays and home stays are counted as non-private guest accommodation if run by a manager who does not live in the dwelling, where people offer board or lodging to paying guests in their own homes or, if the main intent is for the dwelling to be used as a facility for paying guests. Seasonal establishments, i.e. those that do not operate on a year-round basis, must be open to guests at the time of the data collection, or enumeration date for household surveys, to be counted as non-private guest accommodation.
  
  If there is doubt about the private or non-private status of the dwelling then the following characteristics may be taken as indicative of a non-private dwelling:
  • the establishment is open to guests at the time of the data collection or enumeration date for household collections surveys, and has the capacity to accommodate five or more boarders or guests
  • it is known as a bed and breakfast hotel
  • it is purpose-built to provide guest accommodation

• Boarding houses, including establishments hosting foreign students
  Boarding establishments are counted as non-private dwellings if run by a manager who does not live in the dwelling; where people offer board or lodging to paying guests in their own homes; and if the main intent is for the dwelling to be used as a facility for boarders. If there is doubt about the private or non-private status of the dwelling then the following characteristics may be taken as indicative of a non-private dwelling:
  • The establishment is open to boarders at the time of data collection, or enumeration date for household surveys, and has the capacity to accommodate five or more boarders or guests
  • It is purpose-built to provide accommodation for boarders.
    
• Motor camps
  Excludes any mobile or fixed dwelling in a motor camp that is the usual residence of a person(s), and the manager's residence.
  
• Work camp, construction camp, training camp
  Excludes armed forces camps, which are classified as defence establishments.
  
• Youth camp, school camp, scout/guide camp
  Includes immigration hostels, trampers' huts, Outward Bound school.
  
• Staff quarters
  Includes group accommodation, such as a hostel type structure with common living and eating facilities provided by an employer for employees, inclusive of seasonal group quarters (such as shearers' or fruit pickers' quarters), medical staff hostel within a hospital complex, fire and ambulance stations. Excludes manager's residences and private dwellings supplied to farm workers.
  
• Commercial vessel
  Includes cruise ships.
  
• Marae complex
  Excludes private dwellings attached to a marae.
  
• Other non-private dwellings
  Includes communes.