Family moves into house of their own
‘‘My three boys slept on the floor and the rest of us slept in the beds.’’
Carol Smith’s home is a happy place, full of the sounds of laughter and play, but things haven’t always been so good.
The 36-year-old and her seven children have lived in a variety of situations since moving to New Zealand from Samoa in 2016.
They first moved in with Smith’s aunty and her two children in a Housing NZ property in central Auckland.
Three of Smith’s children slept on a mattress on the floor of the three-bedroom home. Five months later the family moved in with a cousin, her partner and seven children in Favona.
They stayed there for a fortnight. Smith contacted Work and Income and got onto the Ministry of Social Development’s social housing register.
Her early attempts to find her family a place of their own were unsuccessful.
‘‘I applied for 11 private rental properties but landlords didn’t want us because I had too many kids and I’m not a permanent resident,’’ Smith says.
She eventually sought help from Mangere-based social and emergency housing provider Monte Cecilia Housing Trust, but it was full.
Smith then moved out of her cousin’s home and into a South Auckland motel.
‘‘We stayed in a single room there,’’ she says. ‘‘It had two double beds. My three boys slept on the floor and the rest of us slept in the beds. We were there for two months and two weeks.’’
Monte housing family and whanau worker Bex Rillstone reviewed Smith’s social housing application and checked in with the ministry on her behalf.
Housing NZ recently offered Smith a two-storey, five-bedroom home in Favona. She inspected it with Rillstone and didn’t wait long to snap it up. ’’I am very happy,’’ Smith says.
She’s a stay-at-home mum and receives the sole parent support benefit. Her dream is to start her own sewing business.
Rillstone says it’s not uncommon for larger families to struggle to find a private rental.
‘‘People are putting in applications and they’re being declined.
‘‘Landlords don’t want big families in their houses as they’re worried about damage caused by younger children.
‘‘And a lot of landlords are hesitant with families [who are] on a benefit.’’