Jaydene finds home thanks to renting course
Jaydene Kingi is one of the lucky ones. Within a few weeks of starting to look for a rental property, she had one.
She puts it down to attending The Hub Te Puke’s Ready 2 Rent (R2R) programme, a five-week course that covers a range of subjects including how to be a tenant, how to have a healthy home, rights and responsibilities, how much money is needed and how to be application-ready.
“Being a young mother, I wanted to move out of my mother’s home — I just wanted my own freedom,” she says.
A friend told her about the course. “She was already enrolled on it and said ‘If you are looking at moving out, you should do this course with me’.”
She went along for one hour a week for the five weeks.
“There were different property managers and Tangi [Walker, who runs the programme] informing us on how to be good tenants, what’s required when you’re looking for rentals.”
It was through the course that she met property manager Adrienne Uerata, who was one of the speakers.
“The following week I went to First
National and got the listings. They had just put this property on the listings so I put in a pre-application and viewed it the same day.”
Within 24 hours she was told her application was successful.
“I hadn’t really been looking — the course got me the house,” she says.
Meeting property managers, she says, was a crucial element of the course: “I think it’s meeting the correct people — if you haven’t met the property manager how are you suppose to have a rapport with them when you are applying for a home?”
Jaydene has worked in the kiwifruit industry but has not had a steady job since becoming a mother. She is now on a benefit and has a flatmate to help with the rent, but says financially she is just about keeping her head above water.
“Winz, Tangi and Adrienne have all been my support people in terms of getting into a rental. I think I’m very, very lucky and very grateful for the position I’m in . . . My uncle and auntie have come back from Australia and still can’t find anywhere to live.”
Tangi says there has been a lot of interest in the R2R programme and good attendances.
Maketu¯ Community Board will meet next Tuesday at 7pm at the Maketu¯ Community Centre while Te Puke Community Board will meet next Thursday at Te Puke Library and Service centre, also at 7pm.
Road repairs on SH2 in Pongakawa, between Pongakawa Station Rd and Benner Rd, will get under way from Sunday night. To minimise disruption for motorists, work will take place between 6pm and 6am on the nights of May 30, 31 and June 1. The work will be finished by 6am on June 2. While work is in progress, the road will operate under stop/go traffic management, with a 30km/h temporary speed limit. During the day a 50km/h temporary limit will be in place. Traffic control staff will assist vehicles accessing Pongakawa BP. Bad weather or other unforeseen circumstances may see the work postponed. The work is part of a
Waka Kotahi/nzta maintenance programme to repair and resurface Bay of Plenty state highways.