Rental search challenging

Spending six months in emergency accommodation with two kids was a tough ask for a woman fleeing a violent partner.

Being admitted to hospital twice because of her partner, Sharon (name changed) approached the Hutt Valley Women’s Refuge for help.

It provided emergency shelter while she looked for long-term housing.

Sharon is just one of hundreds of New Zealand women in refuges desperately needing accommodation.

Women’s Refuge Collective chief executive Dr Ang Jury last week said the lack of safe housing options was a huge problem and the ‘‘national crisis’’ meant there was a desperate need for more social housing.

The lack of housing was forcing women being cared for by refuges to return to abusive partners, Jury said.

With house prices soaring and rental accommodation in demand, landlords were increasingly reluctant to rent to women coming from abusive relationships, she said.

That is exactly the situation that Sharon found herself in. Well-spoken and articulate, she comes from a loving family with parents who are in a stable relationship.

After her marriage failed, she fell for a gang member who had spent a long period of time in prison. Although he loved her, Sharon said he came from an angry, violent background and when the relationship was under pressure, he took it out on her physically and verbally.

‘‘He knew he loved me. He just did not know how to show it.’’

After a second spell in hospital, Sharon moved into emergency shelter, determined to change her life and protect her children.

Although she was grateful for the help, sharing one room with two kids was ‘‘horrible’’ and she worried about the affect it would have on her children. Some of the other women had mental health and drug issues, and she said it was far from ideal. ‘‘My son is reaching puberty soon and he needs his own room.’’

Her first big hurdle to finding accommodation was getting all the paperwork done. Having fled with nothing more than the clothes on her back, she had to get a new driver’s licence. Landlords require photo ID and to get a new one, Sharon had to get a birth certificate. That required money she did not have and delayed the search for somewhere to live.

Although she had a letter from Women’s Refuge vouching for her, Sharon found that landlords wanted stable couples with two incomes.

Landlords, she said, had every right to be ‘‘picky’’ and Sharon believed the blame for the housing shortage fell elsewhere. Abuse victim Sharon

‘‘Why should landlords have to step up to help what isa government problem?’’