Mouldy f lat, and baby due
Alexander Aragon wanted a warm, dry, affordable home, where he would feel safe. Instead, the refugee lives in a mould-infested council house, pays an unaffordable rent, and has threats of violence at his doorstep.
Aragon says his pregnant wife now has problems with asthma and a doctor blames black mould at the onebedroom Newtown flat.
She is due to give birth next month – and the couple fear for the health of their baby when she does.
‘‘How do you expect a child to live in this situation?’’ Aragon said. ‘‘I wouldn’t want my dog to live in this house.’’
And, yet, despite numerous complaints, Wellington City Council hadn’t fixed those issues at the flat, part of the Rintoul St Villas, which it owns.
‘‘The council do nothing,’’ Aragon said.
Once, when he raised concerns during an inspection, a tenancy manager pointedly asked if he ‘‘wanted to be homeless’’ instead.
The city council is the second-biggest landlord in the country, with a portfolio of 1931 properties and a bigger caseload of crippling debt.
City Housing, which manages those properties, rejects claims it was an inattentive landlord, and denied knowledge of flippant eviction threats made by its staff.
City Housing manager Angelique Jackson said the council had been very responsive, inspecting the Rintoul St flat several times.
And City Housing’s own records showed no traces of a conversation where Aragon was threatened with homelessness, though such a threat would ‘‘certainly be concerning’’, she said.
‘‘A small amount of mould’’ had been identified – and cleaned – during an inspection in August last year. Then, last month, the property was
inspected again at Aragon’s behest, with ‘‘significant mould found’’, particularly in the bathroom. Aragon had subsequently blocked access to the property, meaning no further action could be taken.
The couple had been given advice about ‘‘the importance of regular ventilation’’ to prevent mould at the house, Jackson said. ‘‘Our team have also noted that the curtains were closed, even on warm, fine days which limits the ability for air to flow around the home, removing moisture.’’
Aragon, however, rejected any assertion that he and his wife didn’t ventilate their home. The house was well-aired, aside from when windows were closed during strong winds. He didn’t understand how the council could make such a judgment when its visits were intermittent and brief.
The couple ran three dehumidifiers around the clock to reduce moisture, he said. Those running costs contributed to $1300 of debt now owed to a power company.
He was frustrated by the council’s ineffectiveness, and said a GP and midwife had strongly recommended a change of accommodation.
Jackson, however, said the couple had twice rejected transfers to ‘‘similar, suitable properties’’.
Those offers were extended in the aftermath of an incident where a pig’s severed head was left at the couple’s front doorstep, alongside an Islamophobic note.
Aragon conceded those alternatives were offered to him. However, both units were at the Granville Flats, in Berhampore – and he said those flats were infamous for fighting and drug use, and also known for being damp. He thought uprooting was pointless, when the new living situation might be similar or worse.
The private market was not an option for Aragon and his wife. The refugee was a painter by trade, operating his own business between 2018 and 2020, until a knee injury deteriorated to the point where he now walked using a crutch.
The family’s income came from his Jobseeker benefit, and an accommodation supplement. Rent at the council flat was high, however: $261 a week, or almost 70 per cent of that income.
Aragon came to New Zealand from Iran in 2016, with help from the UN Refugee Agency.
He moved into council housing soon afterwards, transferring to Rintoul St from a different council flat, in late 2017. Aragon married Maryam Asadi in 2018, but they didn’t share a home until she arrived in early 2020.