BIG HEART: Kellie Kioa has taken in over 30 homeless families over two years and is seeking funding for her Te Tawharau o te Ora charity that wants to set up an emergency housing facility in Tauranga.PHOTO/JOHN BORREN
BIG HEART: Kellie Kioa has taken in over 30 homeless families over two years and is seeking funding for her Te Tawharau o te Ora charity that wants to set up an emergency housing facility in Tauranga.PHOTO/JOHN BORREN
Kellie Kioa has opened her home to more than 30 homeless families over the past two years and says Tauranga desperately needs an emergency housing facility.
When the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend visited her Housing New Zealand home yesterday she had a family of five living in her garage and another single working mum of two staying in a bedroom.
In 2012 she started Te Tawharau o te Ora, a charity dedicated to providing that service, and had actively applied for funding and lobbied politicians.
The mental-health support worker and mother of four said she had been threatened with eviction in the past and could be breaching her tenancy agreement "but what am I supposed to do if there is a family in the bus shelter ... I will take them home and put them in my garage."
Sitting at her kitchen table, laptop at the ready and surrounded by documents, she wiped away tears when asked why she continues to provide shelter for homeless people.
"I am doing it because who is going to take these people in? I will be honest, it is stressful but I have a big heart and have been homeless myself before.
"I have a huge passion and started this charity by myself. The situation at the moment is people are not seeing the real housing issues. They hear stories but they are not actually meeting the families who are living it rough.
"I care. I am not scared to speak up. I want to own my own house just like everyone else does but I am not in a financial position to do so right now."
A number of clients are living in a garage with family members living in the house.
The young mother-of-two living in Ms Kioa's bedroom, who did not want to be named, said: "Basically, the poor are looking after the poor."
She was given 72 days' notice after her four-year tenancy ended, and moved to another region to live with her sibling but returned to Tauranga to find work.
"It's been a major struggle to find a new home and I am anxious and nervous. I feel frustrated and there are a lot of people out there taking people in off the streets.
"My best friend has three people living with her."
In 2009, her three-bedroom, fully fenced house with garage cost $280 and she recently looked at one for $360 that was not as good, she said.
"The rental market is so competitive and there are so many people on agency waiting lists. It's horrible."
Kellie Kioa has taken in over 30 homeless families over two years. Photo/John Borren
Tauranga community agencies said there were other people living in cars, under bridges, bunking down at parks and setting up homes inside garages and garden sheds.
Merivale Community Centre social worker Kate Elliot said a lack of affordable housing was an ongoing issue.
"Housing is a basic need and human right ... people are discriminated against often due to being in financial debt or they are teen parents, aren't employed, have a criminal record or just because of the way they look."
A number of clients are living in a garage with family members living in the house.
TeTuinga Whanau Support Services Trust social services manager Piki Russell agreed and said it was not just those "living it rough" who were at a disadvantage, "families are living in substandard housing out of fear because it's the only accommodation they can get".
Tauranga Budget Advisory Service manager Diane Bruin said it had clients residing in garages.
"A number of clients are living in a garage with family members living in the house."
A strong rental market, rising rents and lack of available properties contributed to the problem, she said.
"Rental accommodation has increased recently and would be between 40 to 60 per cent [of their income], dependent on their job and the accommodation [supplement]."
Salvation Army Tauranga community ministries manager Davina Plummer said it was aware of people living under bridges, in garages, or couch surfing.
"There is a lot of competition in Tauranga for affordable rental properties. The low median income levels in Tauranga makes it very difficult to compete for these homes."
Figures from Trade Me showed its first-quarter Tauranga rental listings dropped 32 per cent for March 2015, but median rents in the city jumped 6 per cent from $360 a week in April 2014 to $380 in April 2015.
