Paralysed and sleep deprived on a lengthy housing wait list

Sunday, 6 July 2025

A man paralysed after a stroke has waited years for a suitable state house - and survived thanks to a remarkable friendship. Senior journalist Nicholas Jones reports.

Chris Clark woke to the sound of his friend’s body hitting the floor.

“I was up out of bed with the baseball bat, because it sounded like someone breaking in.”

Trevor Potter had suffered a massive stroke soon after getting up for the toilet in the early hours of May 8, 2020.

Chris’ quick actions saved his life - getting him to Auckland Hospital within half an hour, through Covid-19 lockdown restrictions and in time for doctors to remove a clot and restore blood flow to the brain.

However, the left side of the then-60-year-old’s body was left completely paralysed.

After 12 weeks in hospital he returned in a wheelchair to the private rental he shares with Chris, on Kitchener Rd and bordering the busy restaurants and shops of Sandringham Village.

Chris became his friend’s full-time carer. A grant from Auckland DHB paid for a wheelchair ramp to the home, but it otherwise isn’t suitable for someone in Trevor’s condition.

The toilet and bathroom areas are cramped, with the shower over a narrow bath. Thick carpet means Trevor, a former barber, cannot use his non-powered wheelchair. It’s hard to navigate between the rooms and doorways, and the kitchen has no space where he can be propped up.

Warmth from the lounge heat pump doesn’t reach Trevor’s bedroom, where he spends much of his time.

The area is very busy, with the property sandwiched between a community centre and Chicking fast food restaurant and a café run by the Paradise Indian food group, which has an outdoor area and is open until the wee hours. There’s a pub further along, and more restaurants and food carts on the other side of the street.

Cars and delivery trucks idle outside the house and doors slam, and a truck picking up and dropping a skip bin is often their 5am wake-up call.

‘Earmark homes for people who need them’

It’s a hard situation for Trevor, now 66 and who tires easily and is more sensitive to noise after his stroke. Chris also struggles to sleep, and both have taken to napping during the day to try and cope with the disruptions.

Their options to move are limited, however - Trevor is on the pension, and Chris is paid by Work and Income to care for him, and their combined income isn’t enough to secure a better private rental that is set-up for someone with his disabilities.

The wheelchair ramp grant was a one-off, Chris says, and wouldn’t be moved or provided again if they shifted rentals.

The friends have been waiting for a suitable state house for years, and Chris says he knows of Kāinga Ora properties in the neighborhood that are modified to address a disability or specialised needs, but have gone to able-bodied people.

“Everybody needs a home, but I think they should earmark the disabled homes for people who need them.”

MSD apologises

Dan Brunt, regional commissioner - Auckland Central/East for the Ministry of Social Development (MSD), which manages the state housing register, said Trevor had been on the wait list for about three years and four months, after first applying in March 2021.

After Stuff enquiries this week, MSD realised his application was incorrectly closed in July 2024, Brunt said.

“At that time, we were waiting for information to be supplied so we could update his priority rating. Because that information was not supplied, his application was closed. However, we should have followed up with Trevor and Chris about the information, instead of allowing the application to lapse.

“After we confirmed this had happened, we reactivated his application for public housing, and we’ve contacted Trevor and Chris to apologise.”

MSD doesn’t decide who gets placed in public housing, Brunt said, “however we know there is very high demand for a very limited supply of accessible public housing, and this can become even more challenging when applicants limit their request to a small number of suburbs”.

“We will continue to work with Trevor and Chris to support their search for housing. We are providing a range of financial assistance, and we encourage them to talk to us about how an MSD housing broker can help with their search for suitable, accessible accommodation.”

A Kāinga Ora spokesperson said it has 1300 “full universal design” homes nationwide, and worked with other agencies like MSD and ACC to put in bespoke modifications - like handrails and wet areas - to other properties.

“Currently over 40% of our homes have accessibility modifications, and a wide range of universal design features are included as standard in our new homes. Universal design delivers housing that is more livable for the entire population.”

Housing Minister Chris Bishop has moved to overhaul the agency after a review into the agency led by former prime minister Sir Bill English, which concluded it had an insufficient focus on fiscal discipline.

Asked about Chris and Trevor’s situation, Bishop said he was “focused on ensuring our social housing system delivers the right homes in the right places for the right people”.

“Our current social housing system is too ‘one size fits all’. While we have work underway to address this – such as working with community housing providers including accessible properties to deliver social housing for the communities they know best - there is far more we can do to ensure people are housed in the right home for their needs.”

Louise Upston, the Minister for Disability Issues, said a disability strategy was being developed, with a focus on housing: 'We know that while progress has been made in improving the lives of disabled people, there is more work to do.'

Trevor and Chris previously approached their local MP Helen White for help. White, a member of Labour, told Stuff she couldn’t comment on their case for privacy reasons. However, she said an unmet need for accessible state housing in the electorate would be worsened by the Government’s reforms.

“Wesley [bordering Sandringham] is an area where we were going to build 3000 affordable homes, we were all ready to go …. that has stopped.”

An enduring friendship

Chris turned to Stuff last month in desperation, despite the friends being private people.

It is another act in a remarkable friendship, which began when they met as part of Auckland’s clubbing scene in the 1990s. Trevor was at the heart of the central city’s emerging culture, having with friends opened the first coffee shop on Vulcan Lane, within a salon (Potter Blair and Associates) where he styled hair.

He also worked at the Blahnik Lawdorf salon on High St, and taught barbering at the Cut Above academy on Queen St.

“I said to him he should write a book - do his ‘memoirs of a high street hairdresser’ - some of it was hilarious,” Chris says.

“I could start that,” Trevor says. “We were the party pack - we were connected to all the DJs in High Street, and so it was party central. We were quite lucky, really.”

That wide-open world has shrunk to a home that’s difficult to live in. On Trevor’s wish list for a new place is a garden, and modifications to enable more independence - for him, but also his loyal friend.

“It locks Chris in a lot. He doesn't have the freedom as much to do what he wants, because I can't be left alone,” Trevor says.

Chris downplays that sacrifice.

“I've always been a loner and a creature of habit, anyway,” he says, and gestures at a pushbike resting against the fireplace. “And that’s my sanity.”