He'll move - but to where?

Michael Van Iperen and his grandson Riley are happy to move their home, but have nowhere to move it to. Photo / Peter Jackson

Michael Van Iperen has no real complaints about the fact that he has to shift the small cabin he and his grandson Riley are living in, but he has a problem. He has nowhere to move it to.

Michael was originally living in a couple of converted containers at Waiharara, but had to move them when the property went on the market. He shifted them to an empty section at Okahu Downs, on the outskirts of Kaitaia, where he later upgraded to a small solar-powered cabin, bought as a flat pack, which he said was warm, dry, and had everything he and his grandson needed.

The neighbours were happy to see him there, he said last week. He had made sure of that before he moved on to the section, which he leases. One had since complained to the Far North District Council, however, and now he had to go.

The neighbour's complaint was that the cabin didn't comply with the caveat that applies to properties at Okahu Downs, which, among other things, specifies the minimum value of homes that are built there and prohibits the likes of caravans, sheds and above-ground water tanks. Michael accepted that his home didn't comply, although other properties in the immediate vicinity had a caravan, an unfenced swimming pool, pigs and an unpainted shed.

"I don't want to upset anyone, but I can't find anywhere to move to," he said.

"I would like to go back to Waiharara, nor Kaimaumau, but I haven't been able to find anywhere yet."

He could not afford to buy land, or a house, and had been unable to find anywhere to rent.

He had been visited by a council officer, who had not been sympathetic, but the attitude had changed a little after he wrote to the Mayor, following which he was given three weeks to comply, a process that would include placing the cabin on permanent foundations.

That, Michael said, would cost $20,000, and would raise legal complications, and wasn't a practical means of resolving what he had told the council was a short-term solution to his housing problem.

"I accept that the council has to act now that there has been a complaint, but I can't move until I have somewhere to move to," he said.

"At the moment I have no idea what I'm going to do."

Nor did he know what was going to happen if he was still there when the three weeks the council had given him was up.

"It seems that as far as the council is concerned they would rather you live on the street or in your car than in a cabin, even though they fully know that there is nowhere for people to rent or go to," he said.

"Nice Christmas present from our council. I thought they were meant to help people, not throw them in the gutter.