Hastings family of seven get public home after nearly three years in motel

Sola can finally run and play outside.

The youngest in a family of seven, the 3-year-old boy is part of a cohort of Hawke's Bay kids who have become know colloquially as the "motel generation".

Sola's spent virtually all of his life in emergency housing with his family at the Camberley Court Motel in Hastings.

But now there's something to smile about. Sola and his family have a Kāinga Ora home to call their own.

There's still plenty of others waiting. At the end of March there were 804 applicants on the Housing Register in Hastings, each one with their own unique need for house.

From left to right, Rosie, Marie Tuu, Sola, Paulo Petelo, Milton, Alisi and Solema spent three years as a family living in emergency housing. Photo / Warren Buckland

There are signs of public housing stock rebuilding. A Kāinga Ora spokesperson said it had delivered 188 new public homes and 28 extra transitional homes in Hastings since September 2020.

There are also 133 homes in progress and contracts in place to purchase 34 homes from developers once construction is completed as of June 30.

Continued expansion of public housing in Hawke's Bay is important for Kāinga Ora.

The Government has faced a backlash over conditions in emergency housing after a broadcast on TVNZ's Sunday programme alleged intimidation, negligence and abuse of power in emergency housing in Rotorua managed by provider Visions of a Helping Hand.

National Party housing spokesperson Chris Bishop called the conditions seen in the programme "appalling" and urged the Auditor-General to conduct an inquiry into emergency housing in Rotorua.

Marie Tuu, Paulo Petelo and their five children Sola, Milton, Rosie, Alisi and Solema, lived in emergency housing at the Camberley Court Motel in Hastings for nearly three years.

They moved to New Zealand from Samoa at the beginning of 2016 and stayed with Tuu's sister before she moved to Australia.

When the landlord of the property decided to sell, they had no choice but to move into emergency housing in 2019.

Tuu said that she was grateful for the offer of the motel rooms when her family had nowhere else to go, but she did not expect to stay for two years and eight months.

"When we moved into the motel, all our beds and chairs had to be put in the rubbish because I didn't know where we could put them."

She said they had three rooms, but had limited storage and furnishing.

"There were not enough places to put all the clothes," Tuu said.

She said she wanted more space and a better environment for her children to be able to get outside and run around.

Marie Tuu, alongside fellow Kauri Pl resident Matua Fred Mitai, meeting Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern when she visited the Kāinga Ora housing development in August. Photo / Warren Buckland

"We wanted our own home because my kids struggled," she said.

"It wasn't a safe place [for them]."

Tuu said she eventually got a call from Kāinga Ora about the opportunity to move into one of the 40 new public homes in Kauri St and Kauri Pl, Mahora, Hastings.

"She asked 'do you want to stay at the house? You will share the driveway'.

"I answered her 'any house you can get me my family I will accept'."

They first moved into the four-bedroom home in Kauri Pl, Hastings, in April this year.

"I am so happy and so thankful to Kāinga Ora and the community for allowing my family to stay here."

The Kauri St and Kauri Pl housing development was officially opened by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on August 11.

Naomi Whitewood, Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi, Kāinga Ora East North Island regional director, said in a statement that the Tuu family was an example of why Kāinga Ora was focused on building warm, safe dry homes as quickly as possible.

"We need to get people out of motels, cars, garages and other unsuitable living spaces so that they can get on with their lives."