No fixed abode: Hawke's Bay solo mum-of-five's struggle to avoid emergency housing trap

Honeylee says she knows how to look after a property and wants future landlords to know that too. Photo / Warren Buckland

Honeylee Whakamoe would ask her family to take her in to prevent her and her five kids aged under 8 from being forced into emergency accommodation.

But Hawke's Bay's housing crisis has become so dire in the past few years, that all of Whakamoe's close whanau are already living in emergency accommodation.

The region's latest statistics of those assessed as eligible and now on a waiting list for a state home, from June, confirm just how dire the situation.

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In the last five years the number of applicants on the housing register in Hastings District has skyrocketed, going up from 72 in June 2016, to 732 in June 2021.

In Napier that number has jumped from 87 in June 2016 to 768 in June 2021.

In Central Hawke's Bay District in June 2016 there were three applicants on the housing register, and in June 2021 there were 57.

Whakamoe and her five children had been happily living at a rental property in Flaxmere, until her landlord decided they needed the house with plans to refurbish it.

The 34-year-old said her landlord gave her the required 90 days notice to vacate in June, and she's been applying for rental properties since. But the clock's ticking.

She will have to vacate on October 20 and she's not found a home yet, despite more than 20 applications.

Since then she has applied for about 20 rental properties and each time her application has been denied.

"A majority of the three-plus bedroom rentals which I am applying for say they are only looking for professional couples.

"I have excellent references, awesome character references, fair credit and no criminal history.

"I can afford to pay the rent.

"I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't have any animals. I do have tattoos, and piercing, but I take those out when I go for a viewing.

"But I do have five kids, and they probably think I am going to sit on my bum all day and let my kids run amok."

She believes the housing market has become so tight that it's become easy for landlords to discriminate against solo parents.

"I think I am not getting accepted because of the number of children I have. I get that they have to look after their assets but this is just discrimination."

To improve her chances of getting into a rental, Whakamoe did a housing programme through Emerge Aotearoa.

"I learnt how to look after my property properly, I started attaching pictures of my bedroom and children's bedroom to show future landlords that I could look after their property," she said.

"I would also attach medical reports and lots of character references."

Honeylee Whakamoe is urgently in need of rental accommodation in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Warren Buckland

But, after all that, still no luck.

It took her months of living in emergency accommodation - two weeks at the Hastings Top 10 Holiday Park and then for four months at Magpie Motel - before she was able to get the rental she currently lives in, and she has no desire to go back.

"There were lots of rules and regulations we had to abide by. I lived on the top floor and my children couldn't run up and down the stairs.

"We had to do a lot tiptoeing because we'd get told off for making noise. So we stayed inside a lot.

"There were no facilities for my children to play outside so I would take them to parks, and we'd only come back to the motel to sleep.

"Living in a motel is not suitable for children."

Whakamoe said she and her kids could also end up sleeping in her car if emergency accommodation isn't possible.

"I am just trying to prevent this from happening. Staying with family is not an option because my whole family are living in emergency accommodation.

"Unfortunately this is the reality of life, this is how bad the housing crisis is."

NO FIXED ABODE - HAWKE'S BAY TODAY'S NEW SERIES

- Chris Hyde, chief reporter

Living a life in Hawke's Bay with 'no fixed abode' is not easy, and more of our community are having to do it.

In this week-long series starting today Hawke's Bay Today will meet the people doing it, and the people trying to help them, to expose the surprising roadblocks that being of no fixed abode can throw up for all aspects of life.

More than 1500 people in our region are living their lives in transitional housing, motels, holiday parks, and even on the streets - a figure that has risen more than 800 per cent in five years, and is still on the rise.

So much political will has gone into trying to keep a lid on this crisis, but as rents and house prices continue to soar, and demand for housing continues unabated, it's been a struggle just to flatten the curve.

There are children starting school now who've never known anything other than transitional housing.

It's now time that some political will is also directed at making the lives of those with no fixed abode.

If we can understand the challenges of life without a guaranteed roof, we can come up with solutions. And maybe that will make our region a better place.