It has been another busy and interesting year in our region. We revisit some of our most popular premium stories from 2022. Originally published on February 19.
Sarah-Jane and Heremaia Ahipene say they just want to be self-sufficient. After three years of homelessness, they’re starting a business. They are motivated to improve their lives, support workers say. But their efforts to get out of transitional housing have hit a wall. They say the market is tight and landlords can be picky. They believe the size of their family - six children aged 6 to 16 - counts against them, as does being beneficiaries, Māori and Heremaia being in a gang. They speak to Cira Olivier about why they want someone to give them a chance.
A homeless couple with six children has started a garden services business as part of a mission to one day own their own home and stop being “reliant on the system”.
They want out of transitional housing, but Sarah-Jane, 32, and Heremaia Ahipene, 34, say the rental market won't give them a chance.
They say they have been rejected for "hundreds" of rental homes and claim they are discriminated against for having six children as well as being Māori on benefits and Heremaia being a gang member.
Their kaiāwhina (support worker), Aliscia Tuau, says many big families face discrimination when trying to get a rental on the private market, but there is also a long queue for social housing.
The Ministry of Social Development's housing register has 738 people waiting for a home in Tauranga, 30 of which seeking four or more bedrooms.
Heremaia was dairy farming for 10 years but gave it up to move to Whangamatā to be with their three kids together. Three years ago, however, the family was asked to move out of their rental.
They packed their belongings into storage and lived out of their van while they looked for housing.
They went to Mangakino and Rotorua before coming to Tauranga at the end of 2018. Heremaia's brother lived in a Te Tuinga Whanau shared transitional house designed for single men.
"We were broken," Sarah-Jane said.
His brother's social worker allowed the family to stay for two months before they had to move out.
Sarah-Jane, who was studying culinary arts and looking for rentals while her husband was a full-time arborist, said she panicked.
She walked into Te Tuinga's offices, "crying" and "pleading" for help. The social service found them a two-bedroom motel unit.
"It was such a blessing."
They got an "amazing" social worker, who they met weekly and worked to set and achieve goals.
"We were embarrassed, we were very ashamed of our past."
She said he understood their issues, history, stresses and did not judge them as they worked on themselves.
They felt blessed again in 2020 when they moved into their current three-bedroom transitional home and brought Sarah-Jane's three children from a previous relationship into their care.
They now have six children aged between 16 and 6, including twins.
Three children are in one room, three are in another and they said it would be nice to be able to offer the teenage daughters their own space.
"We make do with what we have ... we never take anything for granted."
They've applied for "hundreds" of houses between Tauranga and Whakatāne, always honest about the number of children they had.
She said they did not get responses or viewing invitations.
"Why are they not giving us the chance? Why do they feel like we don't deserve it?"
In her opinion, the rental market was discriminatory because "landlords can afford to be picky".
"We feel like we can't get a house because we've got heaps of children, we're Māori and they're just going to look at us like we're beneficiaries that are going to ruin their homes," Sarah-Jane said.
She said some rentals were denied for Heremaia's gang membership but quitting was not an option and the gang did not define him as a person.
"We're another family ... I support my husband being in a gang ... people don't understand that neither him nor myself had a solid family to grow up in, so it was his craving to have that family," Sarah-Jane said.
"I know people are going to say 'It's either [be in a gang] or a house', but why does it have to be that way?
"We're humans, we should have a home."
She believed the bigger factor was the size of their family and having young children.
"I'm not ashamed to have six children and I'm not going to hide it," Sarah-Jane said.
They applied for four to six-bedroom rentals but said even four-bedroom homes were often out of their price range at upwards of $700 a week.
Trade Me property sales director Gavin Lloyd said the median weekly rent for three-to-four-bedroom homes in Tauranga was $650 in December. There were too few listings for five or more bedrooms to give a median.
On Friday, Trade Me had 28 four or more bedroom properties on the market in Tauranga priced from $550 to $2500 a week.
They said moving was not an option as their kids loved Tauranga and their schools, and they had family support in Thames and Whangamatā.
Sarah-Jane gave up her studies due to their housing crisis and was admitted to the hospital for gallstones.
With his wife in and out of hospital, and the stress of trying to find a home giving her panic attacks, Heremaia left his job as an arborist.
"It got to a point where it got too much and we put a hold on everything," Sarah-Jane said. "There were multiple times along our journey that we stopped."
Their social worker helped them get them back on track.
To be self-reliant and more desirable to landlords, they started a business, Trim Masters. It provides hedge trimming, small tree removal, garden maintenance and lawn services.
It had a few clients and the ministry was helping Heremaia build it up.
They are both on the Jobseeker benefit and Heremaia also received the Transition to Work Grant in 2019.
Their ultimate goal is to buy their own home.
"We don't want to be reliant on the system. We want to get on our feet and do things on our own.
"We will own our own house, we're not going to stop until we do ... we're never going to give up ... But I don't want to be in a transitional house until that happens."
Other housing avenues they were looking at included papakāinga on whenua Māori.
"We've come a long way with everything, we just need a home."
Kaiāwhina Tuau said the couple had made "amazing improvements" in "every aspect" of their lives and she had no doubt they would one day have a home.
"The amount of hurdles, the healing that they've done, and everything they've been through. If they can do that, they can conquer anything.
"It just takes one person to open that door and say they're going to give you a chance."
She said the rental market wasn't giving anyone a chance even if they had made improvements in their lives.
The ministry's Bay of Plenty regional commissioner, Mike Bryant, said long-term housing for larger families could be challenging and the ministry worked with community organisations, councils, iwi and other agencies to help.
He said Heremaia had been "very focused and motivated" to start his own business, and was taking steps to save and gather tools.
“His positive attitude and willingness to work is great to see.”
Jefferies and family will enjoy a leg of lamb with summer sides.