Whanau settled into a safe and stable home

John* and his partner, along with their 6 children, were very transient moving several times between whanau since 2003. This was due to a relationship breakdown, tenancy breach and having such a large family that contributed to overcrowded living.

At the last property that the family lived in, their oldest son got involved with a local gang where he was stealing and doing other criminal activities. John’s son became a target in the area and other gangs were hunting him down. Although their son managed to leave the area, John’s family were put at risk where they were harassed and threatened by gang members. In order to flee from danger, they were housed in a motel by Work and Income.

Monte Cecilia supported this family to get into our Transitional housing that was based in South Auckland.  We were able to quickly identify that this area was still putting the family’s safety at risk, so the Monte Cecilia tenancy team worked urgently to transfer the whanau to one of our other transitional houses on the other side of Auckland. During the waiting time Monte Cecilia liaised with Solomon Group regarding school truancy, safety concerns, and the local Marae for parenting and whanau supports.

The family moved into the new house and enrolled all their kids into local schools and confirmed they were finally feeling safe and stable. John and his partner engaged in our programmes, worked proactively with Monte Cecilia to achieve their housing goals. The children were thriving at school and having a stable house enabled them feel settled. Monte Cecilia made a referral to Fonuaola for Financial literacy and to a Kainga Ora service that supports Maori families to achieve their aspirations using a whanau centred approach.

The family was offered and accepted a long term property provided by Monte Cecilia community housing. The social worker supported the family to get furniture supports and they continue to be in touch with the social worker. The family are so grateful for the support to achieve their main goal which was to find a safe, warm, stable but more importantly, sustainable long term house that they could call home.

*Not his real name