Govt tenant turns down five homes in same area
Niki Rauti has plenty of reasons to reject replacement houses following eviction
One of these units is among several homes Niki Rauti has turned down. It’s brand new and fully insulated and just 650m down the road from the former state home she is being evicted from. But the 62-yearold doesn’t want it because she says she can’t cope with the stairs in a twostorey house.
“I can’t get up stairs,” she said. “I can get up one, two, three steps, but it’s hard because of my arthritis in my knee.”
The new house, one of a block of new two-storey units, is in Bunkys Way, a new street off Sunnymead Rd in Glen Innes near where Rauti has lived for 21 years.
Rauti has been fighting the Tamaki Regeneration Company since last year when it took ownership of her state home in a plan to treble the current 2500 houses in the area, keeping about the same number of social housing units and selling the other new homes.
Today a large crowd of supporters gathered at her existing home, erecting a fence around the property to fend off bailiffs, as the company asked the Tenancy Tribunal to grant a possession order so it could evict her.
She was first given notice in 2014 when the house was still owned by Housing NZ, but the company backed off then because it did not need to develop the land immediately. She was given notice again late last year to leave by January 18.
The Tenancy Tribunal adjourned the latest application for a possession order after Rauti argued that she was not given proper notice, that the company applied for the order before it had the legal right to it, and that its action was “retaliatory”.
Hnzherald.co.nz Watch the eviction dispute on NZH Focus The company says it has offered her four other homes to move into in the Glen Innes area as well as the one in Bunkys Way. “We have not received feedback from Ms Rauti on any of these houses,” said housing Porteous.
Rauti said she turned down the Bunkys Rd house and another one because they were two-storeyed, another house in Vienna Row because it was damp, and one in Tripoli Rd because it was an older house and likely to be demolished. “I don’t want to keep moving over and over, I don’t think I can handle it.” ”
The Regeneration Company, a joint Government/Auckland Council company which took over the area’s state houses last year, said it “would welcome the opportunity to have a conversation with her”.
“Once we know a tenant’s needs, general manager Neil particularly in terms of accessibility, we can work with them to find a suitable house,” Porteous said. “We will continue to hold a new warm, dry home nearby for Ms Rauti. We understand this is a difficult time for Ms Rauti but TRC has been transparent with her about the redevelopment plans and tried to communicate with her at every opportunity.
“TRC aims to move tenants once into a new home. There are some situations where a new house isn’t ready so a family is moved into an older home until the new house is built. Tenants will be able to remain in the new homes so long as they are eligible for social housing.”