Nowhere else to go
Homeless for six years, living in emergency accommodation for two years, Raelyn Monkhouse eventually bunked down in her car, until last week when it was stolen.
Now the 58-year-old says she will be rough sleeping within the week, and the Ministry of Social Development has refused to help.
‘‘I’m facing death, sitting on a street corner somewhere – that’s what’s going through my mind,’’ Monkhouse said.
‘‘I have shoes which are open-toed, those are the only shoes that I own. I can’t carry much with me. I’m cold. It’s getting colder.’’
In an email sent on April 7, a representative from the ministry advised Monkhouse it ‘‘would not grant any more emergency housing’’ to her, even after she told them she was sleeping in her car. But when contacted by The Dominion Post, the ministry said this was a mistake.
‘‘We apologise to Raelyn for incorrectly advising that she will no longer be supported into emergency accommodation,’’ said its social development regional commissioner, Gagau Annandale-Stone.
However, Monkhouse – who was staying at an Airbnb in Palmerston North, and would soon run out of money – said the ministry was yet to contact her, four days after The
Dominion Post’s approach. Yesterday, Annandale-Stone said the ministry had arranged to meet Monkhouse early next week. Monkhouse previously stayed in
emergency housing at Silverstream Retreat in Stokes Valley for around two years but said ‘‘black mould’’ gave her lung infections. She left in January to house-sit in another part of the country before returning to Wellington in March.
Silverstream Retreat director George Ross said no-one had complained about mould, and he would have ‘‘dealt with any complaints promptly’’.
Monkhouse believed she had slid down the social housing
waiting list in the last two years – from A20, the highest-priority, to A16 – even while her health worsened.
‘‘I have a history of lung problems . . . I’ve been told I have walking pneumonia,’’ she said.
Annadale-Stone, however, said the ministry had ‘‘no record of being made aware’’ about Monkhouse’s worsening health. The ministry had, instead, ‘‘experienced a number of obstacles’’ while trying to help her.
In 2019, it had assisted her with money for a bond and rent in advance, and then covered rent arrears. She had since turned down three offers of social housing.
Monkhouse said she wasn’t allowed inside to view one of those houses, and a case manager who showed her through a second property advised her to decline it because the area was unsafe. A third house had been withdrawn while she was still considering the offer.
Monkhouse had worked as a personal assistant at several government departments in the 1990s but had struggled to find work in recent years.
She said she had lost ‘‘virtually everything’’ when her car was stolen in Palmerston North last week, including the ashes of a pet and photographs of her late parents. Unless something in her circumstances changed, she would be rough sleeping within the week. ‘‘I don’t have anywhere else to go.’’