Raising babies in motel rooms
Finger paintings tacked to the walls and soft toys stuffed in buckets.
These are some of the ways Nadia Frazer-Holland, 21, tries to make her motel room feel like home.
Her 2-year-old son, Malcolm, has spent most of his life in motel rooms as they wait to find a permanent home. Frazer-Holland is one of seven students at Karanga Mai Young Parents College in Kaiapoi, North Canterbury, who live in motels with their children. The school provides education and childcare, and general support – including help with rental applications – to 20 solo mothers, all aged 21 or younger.
The social housing shortage, as well as discrimination and racism from private landlords, are at the heart of the problem, the women and the school say.
Frazer-Holland, who moved out of home when she was 18, has been looking for a home for three years.
She has lost count of the number of homes she has applied for.
Paying rent is not an issue for Karanga Mai students. A portion of their young parent payment goes straight to landlords.
‘‘It is awful. My son and I are just as worthy of having a home as anyone else. My son doesn’t deserve to grow up in a motel,’’ Frazer-Holland said.
In the motels, the mother and son have been exposed to violence, drugs and gangs. Landlords have told her and the school that young single mums are a risk.
‘‘It is complete discrimination. And for our Ma¯ori and Pasifika students (75% of students at Karanga Mai) – it is a double whammy of single-mum judgement and racism,’’ Karanga Mai counsellor Nicola McKinlay-Clark said.
In McKinlay-Clark’s two years as a counsellor and support worker at the school, not once has a student been successful in securing social housing, despite her attending viewings with the students, helping them with application forms, and making guarantees to landlords.
‘‘It is so very disheartening.’’ Moana Carroll, 19, moved out of home when her baby boy, Ta¯onga, was born two years ago as it was overcrowded, and to protect him from family issues. Since then, she has moved from one motel to the other, sometimes for two days at a time.
‘‘It is depressing, stressful and mentally draining,’’ Carroll said.
‘‘We don’t have our own space, we do everything at the same time. When he goes to bed, I go to bed.’’
Carroll said she attended three rental viewings a week on average, always to no avail.
She believed being a young, single Ma¯ori mother was the reason landlords would not approve her.
‘‘We have been in motels that long, it is all Ta¯onga knows. He hates the small room. He is active and boisterous and there is no room for play.’’ Carroll and her son had also been exposed to violence, drugs and gangs while staying in motels.
McKinlay-Clark said the mental toll on young mums unable to find stable homes for themselves and their children was damaging.
There are 6996 occupied Ka¯inga
Ora social housing homes in Canterbury and 153 vacant homes in need of renovations before they can be filled. Of the 2478 people on the region’s public housing register, 231 have been housed since December.
It was surprising to hear young single mothers felt they were being discriminated against when applying for private rentals, Canterbury Property Investors Association president Shirley Berryman said.
Beneficiaries could guarantee consistent rent payments, she said.
Landlords could not be blamed for being picky, due to current laws that made removing difficult tenants much harder, Berryman said.
‘‘You will choose the ones you think will put less wear and tear on your property . . . some people might rank higher than others but I can’t imagine that young solo mums are being actively avoided.’’
New Zealand Property Investors Federation secretary Sue Harrison said strict credit and reference checks could be factors at play.
Harrison had two young single mothers as tenants in her properties and they were ‘‘brilliant’’, she said.
‘‘It is not personal, it is not about being single or young. It is about checks, history and a range of factors,’’ Harrison said.
There were 309 households in emergency accommodation in Canterbury in May. Nationally, 4476 households were in emergency accommodation and 522 households had been there for 12 months or longer. According to the Ministry of Social Development, the Government spent $31.2 million on emergency housing in April for 4476 households, which included 5049 adults and 4536 children.
On average, the Government was spending $1747 on each household per week – and each adult had to pay a portion of their income as a contribution.
International supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, Covid restrictions and cost pressures continued to affect the country’s construction sector and Ka¯inga Ora’s ability to build new homes.