Social housing tenants in ‘limbo’ as exit deadline approaches

Friday, 26 April 2024

Sarah Russell likes to have her hands in the soil or water – it’s therapeutic she says.

From the fourth floor of the Dixon St flats, she could see the ocean from between buildings in the distance, while the leaves of her dwarf lemon tree caught the sun.

But inside the flat, she had been living out of boxes after tenants in the Kāinga Ora social housing flats were given a 90-day notice to leave in January – a year after the complex’s supposed closure.

A broken washing machine sat in her lounge, not replaced, because she had been moved to the fourth floor from the ground floor on the basis she would quickly be moved to the Rolleston St flats.

But 13 months later, she is still there.

The social housing complex was deemed old and no longer fit for purpose but with five days to go on their 90-day notice, Russell along with 24 other remaining tenants remained in “limbo”.

“I don’t know nothing,” the 48-year-old said. The uncertainty left her feeling mentally exhausted, also affecting her physical health. She is already living with Cerebellar degeneration. This month, she had been given a medical alarm necklace and had already used it once after she started hyperventilating due to the stress.

“[I’m] not sleeping, eating, everything’s up the shoot.”

A lack of consistent communication about their housing situation among the tenants and any clarity about what would happen if they were not placed in a new home come next Tuesday, was causing distress, Russell said.

“It’s messing with people’s minds and then they wonder why people get more depressed and anxious and start getting a bit yell-y at them.”

Vicki McLaren, regional director for Greater Wellington at Kāinga Ora, said it was working “closely” with those remaining to find them social housing which met their needs and had offered alternative homes.

The placement team had been going to the complex “up to three times a week” to speak with the tenants, offering them support and alternative properties, she said.

“As they have yet to accept these offers, they have been issued with 90-day notices.”

McLaren would not say whether their notice would be extended but if people chose not to accept offers or did not leave by the end of April, it would consider applying to the Tenancy Tribunal for possession of their property, she said.

It was working with City Mission to assess whether tenants could move to Te Ō – the Rolleston St flats.

Another remaining tenant, who asked not to be identified, said they had not been offered any other housing since the 90-day notice was issued.

The one housing alternative offered was not suitable because of their mobility issues.

“Everyone’s so wary … We’ve been offered places that aren’t suitable.”

Russell had also been offered two different homes but one was in Miramar where she was far from her GP.

She signed a tenancy agreement on another home but was told at the last minute they couldn’t take her as she had a cat – though it was something they already knew.

Russell was asked whether she could give up her cat and was called at least three times to “try and convince me to move to Miramar”.

Wellington Central Green MP Tamatha Paul, a former city councillor, had been supporting the remaining tenants to advocate for them and understand their housing needs.

Paul said the remaining tenants were not there because they objected to leaving the building or because they were “trying to be a nuisance”. Many were elderly or had disabilities.

“They’re still there because there’s no housing that meets their needs.”

It was a reflection of Wellington’s poor housing supply which made it incredibly difficult to find a home if people had complex needs, she said.

The deadline should be on Kāinga Ora, not the tenants and it had taken “a huge mental toll” on those remaining, she said. Paul’s office was trying to get the deadline extended.

“This is the worst consequences of the housing crisis that we have in Wellington.”