Motel of ‘forgotten people’
A cancer patient’s wait for a home may be over, but she leaves behind many ‘‘forgotten’’ guests at a motel filled with desperation.
Toni-Ann Aitcheson – who has cancer, a spinal disease and heart problems – has been living alone in Auckland motels for nine months while waiting for a Housing New Zealand property.
The 49-year-old said she found out on February 12 she finally had a Housing NZ home, five days after media queries were sent to Government agencies.
But she said a sad story remained in every room of the motel she had called home.
Next door, she said a family of five was waiting for a Housing NZ home after losing their property in a blaze.
In a room above, a desperate mother had been waiting for weeks for her own home so she could be reunited with her daughter, she said.
Aitcheson had been searching for a private rental, but said landlords backed out as soon as she mentioned she had cancer.
Aitcheson was in employment when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. She beat cancer a number of times, but it kept returning, spreading into her glands, and she had to give up work.
Aitcheson said everyone at the motel had a story.
‘‘It’s like we are the forgotten people. No one cares.’’
Kayla Hewison has lived on the first floor for the past five weeks, but she has spent two years waiting for a home.
‘‘I feel forgotten because we’re sent to motels and left to fend for ourselves.’’
Hewison had a daughter, but had to leave her with her exmother-in-law because she could not stay at the motel.
In another motel room was a family of five, including two toddlers and an infant who was born after the mother shifted to the motel.
The family’s home was burnt down last year, Aitcheson said.
‘‘She is a quiet woman, but how she manages with the little children is beyond me.’’
MSD Auckland regional commissioner Mark Goldsmith said Aitcheson had requested a home in central Auckland or North Shore, which limited housing options.
But Aitcheson said just weeks after submitting her application she agreed to live anywhere in Auckland.