‘Making do’ with inaccessible homes
Four years ago, Wellington woman Rosaline Vaea was in a motorbike crash.
‘‘I was told I fell off a bike – I’ve got no memories of the accident,’’ she says of the event that injured her spinal cord. Now she uses a wheelchair.
For the past month, the 22-yearold has been looking for a new place to live, after her lease wasn’t renewed on her last home in Avalon, Lower Hutt.
‘‘I get that vibe maybe that [landlords and property managers] just want someone really easy.’’
But she hasn’t been able to find anything suitable and has been living in a motel for the past two weeks with the help of emergency housing funds from Work and Income.
She has been assessed by Housing New Zealand (HNZ) and the agency was looking for a suitable place for her to live.
She’s been doing her own house hunting too.
‘‘I’ve been looking through Trade Me and real estate websites. I try to frequently call HNZ. I have been to a few viewings but the houses haven’t been suitable.’’
She’s visited about 10 flats over the past month but with no luck. She said she wasn’t asking for much and she can live independently – she can walk on crutches for short distances, can cook her own food and shower by herself.
Vaea was just after a place she could move around easily in – wide doorways, mainly flat and an open shower area, rather than a shower over a bath. She’d prefer to stay in a one-bedroom place.
"I get that vibe maybe that [landlords and property managers] just want someone really easy." Wheelchair user Rosaline Vaea
‘‘I don’t expect to have a fully modified house. It’s hard, especially to find something I can afford; $260 a week is my max.’’
Michelle Walmsley also uses a wheelchair and said she had been looking seriously for a flat in Wellington for the last few months.
‘‘I have only found one wheelchair-accessible house available to rent in that time and I didn’t get it.’’
She said accessible places were like ‘‘hen’s teeth’’.
‘‘I certainly have a strong suspicion that I, along with every other wheelchair user, am considered ‘difficult’ so that landlords might go with someone they perceive to be an easier option.’’
Disabled Persons Assembly policy and relationships manager Dr Esther Woodbury said there had been many conversations in the disabled community about the housing shortage.
‘‘There is a huge issue that statistically, disabled people are on much lower incomes. Finding an affordable house is an issue.’’
‘‘You hear about properties where 100 people are looking and often it seems that property managers and landlords are looking for someone as easy as possible.’’
Disability rights commissioner Paula Tesoriero said many groups she’d met with had identified lack of housing as an issue.
‘‘Too many disabled people have to ‘make do’ with housing that doesn’t meet their needs. This can have health and safety risks and be socially isolating. Everyone deserves to live in a home that feels like just that, home.’’