Four years on and mum still waiting for housing transfer
A Hamilton mother has been waiting four years to shift to a different Kāinga Ora home after her son was threatened and her car vandalised.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, has been living in the three-bedroom Hamilton home with her 27-year-old son since 2019.
She says she’s been sleeping in her car on the driveway to protect it from vandalism - she’s already hundreds out of pocket for previous repairs.
But the main reason she wanted to move is for her son, who was diagnosed with PTSD and recently schizophrenia.
He sometimes “acts out, swearing and throwing things, but never hurt anyone”, she said. Their neighbours knew to call the police and help her, but their visitors had threatened him.
“Like, if he comes over again, we’ll throw a brick at his head and f ...... beat him up.”
The woman said she’s talked to authorities about a transfer several times over the past few years. “Nobody’s listening, no one gives a shit.
“I have told my story over and over and over again. But I feel like all it's getting me is judged and no one believing that what I'm saying actually happened.”
Her housing priority level is A14, which means the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) considers wellbeing is seriously at risk and there is an immediate need for action, but Kāinga Ora said “her situation does not meet the criteria for a transfer”.
Kāinga Ora confirmed in an email that there were no complaints against the woman or her son at the current property, but also no record of her wanting to transfer - other than a 2021 application, when she asked to move to Christchurch.
“There were no specific reasons given for the request and as it did not meet our criteria for a business-initiated transfer, we referred the customer to the Ministry of Social Development.”
The woman said she feels unsafe in the neighbourhood and wanted to be closer to family, as she has none in Hamilton.
In a written response to Waikato Times, MSD said the agency had recorded a dozen conversations since 2021 where the woman raised her desire to transfer, and her application had been updated in the social housing registrar for Kāinga Ora to consider. However, Kāinga Ora responded that they were not aware of her conversations with MSD.
“MSD are the agency that holds the information collected from customers on the social housing register. The relevant information is visible to Kāinga Ora if a customer meets the criteria for an available property.”
For the woman, it’s hard to understand why it’s taking so long. MSD said wait times depend on “level of need, and the availability of a suitable property”.
Being transferred is no easier than getting housed. According to the Public Housing Register, it takes about 197 days to house someone, but 317 days to transfer.
As of December 2023, over 5000 applicants were waiting to transfer to a different location, of which almost 90% are in priority A, like the woman.