House-hunt win for Nelson solo mum
After months of waiting, a solo mum of six is soon to go from sleeping in a shed to making a home in Tahunanui.
Cath, who doesn’t want her last name used, had been sleeping on a make-shift bed in a friend’s shed, while her six school-aged children stayed with friends and family across Nelson.
After being evicted from a private rental, she applied to Housing New Zealand but was told there weren’t any available homes big enough.
For more than six weeks she had been ducking out of her fulltime job to attend house view- ings, but said private landlords weren’t keen on large families.
But now Cath’s been told she can move into a Housing New Zealand house in a month’s time.
‘‘They’ve got four weeks more of construction on it, [because] they’re doing it up at the moment.’’
When a Housing New Zealand staff member rang to say a house was available, Cath said at first she didn’t take it in.
‘‘She said to me; ‘We’ve found a house that fits your requirements’, and I said; ‘oh yeah...’ , and then I went; ‘oh pardon?’’’
She said she accepted the offer on the spot.
‘‘The children are so excited, everyone’s so rapt about it.’’
Cath has 12 children, but six are school-aged and under her care, attending intermediate, high school and tertiary institutes in Nelson.
She was breathing a sigh of relief they’d soon all be under one roof again.
‘‘It’s in the perfect area too because that’s where we are based, in Stoke-Tahuna, but I’d have accepted whatever they offered. ‘‘I’m just blown away.’’ Cath moved to Nelson 10 years ago, after leaving an abusive relationship, and was recently given notice from a private rental due to complaints from neighbours about her noisy teenagers.
She was put on the Social Housing Register in June, and had also been trying to find her own solution.
Cath said her Work and Income caseworker, who she meets with fortnightly, had suggested looking for a motel to stay in for a couple of nights’ respite during the current holidays.
‘‘Just for me and the girls, but of course school holidays is not a good time and all the motels are booked up,’’ she said.
Most of the private rentals she’d found on TradeMe only allowed for up to five tenants.
‘‘I applied for a couple of houses. There was one house that came up that would have six tenants, it was a four bedroom, but I was too late and it was already under application,’’ she said.
Ministry of Social Development regional director for Nelson Wendy Chisnall said they were happy to have found a suitable property for Cath.
‘‘When we were aware that this property would be available soon, we reviewed the shortlist of people seeking a five-bedroom home and assessed Cath as the top match for this home,’’ she said.
Housing New Zealand area manager Dale Bradley previously said they had 10 properties with five bedrooms or more in the Nelson region.
Labour’s Nelson spokeswoman Rachel Boyack who has supported Cath in her house-hunt, said she was ‘‘really excited and relieved’’.
‘‘It was not good to have the children separated.’’