Homeless pensioner went public, six hours later she had a home

Thursday, 9 January 2020

Kathleen Coxhall, 73, was a homeless pensioner on Wednesday. On Thursday, she has a new Kāinga Ora home to move into.

A Christchurch pensioner who found herself homeless when her rental sold was offered public housing within hours of going public with her story.

On Wednesday, Kathleen Coxhill wept while telling Stuff of losing her rental home after it was sold, being hospitalised and finding herself in emergency accommodation over Christmas.

The 73-year-old had worked as a carer for intellectually disabled people until her health deteriorated in 2016.

She had struggled to pay $220 a week in rent for an earthquake-damaged and cold house until she was forced to move out in November.

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Coxhill says she shared her story to help others forced into care when they can no longer afford private rentals.

After packing up and moving her belongings into storage, Coxhill became breathless and ended up in Christchurch Hospital.

She was discharged to the YWCA emergency accommodation for women on November 11 and had been there since.

Coxhill is excited to move into her new home soon, where she will be able to be visited by friends.

This week, she was told she had been given a priority rating of A14 by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), which manages the social housing register.

The rating was not high enough for Coxhill's case to be considered urgent within the very limited pool of suitable and available public housing.

Desperate, she turned to the media to share her story – and the move has paid off.

Coxhill said a MSD staff member called about 9.30am on Thursday to say they did not realise she was so sick and the department would work hard to find her a place.

Before midday, a Kāinga Ora (formerly Housing New Zealand) staffer called to offer her a newly-built unit in Shirley, Christchurch.

'I said 'wow' and she said 'don't you want to know where it is' and I said 'yes please'. I'm over the moon.'

MSD referred questions about Coxhill's placement to Kāinga Ora.

A Kāinga Ora spokesman said the agency worked closely with MSD and had 'an escalations process that can be used when required'.

'This has meant that today (Thursday) we have met with Kathleen to give her a viewing of a home that was designed and built for mature tenants.'

The one-bedroom unit has double glazing, a heat pump and a small garden. It is one of five in a small complex built by prisoners at Christchurch Men's Prison.

The units were transported to the Shirley site just before Christmas, the spokesman said.

Coxhill viewed the home later on Thursday and accepted the offer. She will sign a tenancy agreement on Friday.

She said she was elated but also surprised by the sudden offer.

'I certainly didn't expect it to happen six hours later. I'm just so grateful that I got it.'

Having her own home would give her freedom to 'come and go' and have friends to stay, she said.

Being in a warm and dry home would also improve her health, and having cheaper rent (about $115 a week) would allow her to pay off debts, including a $480 power bill from her previous rental.