Woman refuses to leave shacks

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis.

A Kaeo woman who has been offered a state house refuses to leave the shacks where she is living rough with seven other people, including two 5-year-olds.

Emily Rikona's one-bedroom shed has no insulation, heating or running water and she said the only source of warmth was a dryer. She and her children have to carry water from a nearby creek.

Ms Rikona was a Housing NZ tenant for 12 years until the home burned down late last year, destroying everything the family owned. Housing NZ said it would not rebuild because there were too many dwellings already on the land.

The family is living in the old shack and two temporary baches put on the property by Te Runanga o Whaingaroa, for which Ms Rikona pays a subsidised rent.

She said she did not want her children to change schools, nor move away from extended family, and she was worried about gangs elsewhere in Northland.

Ms Rikona said it was HNZ's responsibility to replace the Kaeo house.

"This is not the way it's supposed to be, I'm damned sure. When your home burns down, you [shouldn't] end up like this seven months later."

But Housing NZ said it had done all it could; there were no houses in Kaeo and when Ms Rikona's house burned down there were only three available houses in the Far North, all of which she said no to.

"She has to take some responsibility and she is choosing not to follow the process that has been explained to her," a HNZ spokesperson said.

After her story went public a few weeks ago, Ms Rikona copped flak on social media. Some suggested many people who were homeless were not 'handed a lifeline' as she had been.

Te Tai Tokerau MP Kelvin Davis said Ms Rikona was a good example of the different faces of homelessness.

"She was offered houses in other areas, but how far away is too far away? If you have no resources, it is where your family is and where you are from," he said.

Mr Davis said Ms Rikona's needs were urgent.