Cold, damp, and mouldy

Family moved in with a cousin and lived in overcrowded, three bedroom HNZ property that had total of six adults and three children.   Mary was 28 weeks pregnant and found it hard sleeping on the floor in the lounge with her family.

Mary* previously moved with her one-year-old son to New Zealand from Australia in 2018 because her husband that was living in Samoa, so was given a three month New Zealand visitor’s Visa.

Family moved in with a cousin and lived in overcrowded, three bedroom HNZ property that had total of six adults and three children. Mary was 28 weeks pregnant and found it hard sleeping on the floor in the lounge with her family. They had been trying to get private rental but were declined several times  due to low income and no rental history.  There were high tensions that started to escalate due to host tenant family’s fears of tenancy breach. Mary and her family moved to a local Lodge and during their time here her partner had to go back to Samoa.

The family struggled with substandard living conditions at the lodge where it was cold, damp, and mouldy and infested with fleas. This caused their toddler’s health to deteriorate with continuous respiratory chest infections. There was high stress due to no family support and not being able to get an appropriate home that is warm and stable, especially when expecting a baby.

Mary and her toddler moved in a Monte Cecilia Transitional Home in January 2019 where she engaged proactively with the Whanau worker to achieve her housing goals.

Family enrolled into our Financial Literacy programme with Vaka Tautua where she was supported to learn better ways of money management which helped reduce her debt.

Mary gave birth to her second child while living in our transitional housing and shortly after her husband returned from Samoa with a one year working visa. Mary was growing impatient with the long delays with offering a HNZ house and really wanted a stable house urgently for her family. 

Monte supported them with a plan towards finding full time employment and exploring alternative housing options.  Her partner found casual work that eventually became full time. The family saved for a bond as they did not want to put themselves in debt with WINZ repayments.  They were supported by Monte with education around the process and expectations that local agencies have when applying for private rentals. 

It was really encouraging to see a mother empower herself using all the resources available to her to secure her and her family a three bedroom private rental in Auckland.  Family achieved their main goal which was to find stable, warm and secure home and they have moved in. 

*Not her real name