Beneficiary resorts to living in a box

OUT THE BACK: More and more families are resorting to turning cabins into homes as they struggle to make the budget stretch to pay rent.

Finding herself homeless, Lyn is bunking down in a cabin parked in a friend's back garden.

The Masterton woman, in her 30s, is speaking out about her plight but is fearful of being identified in case she is labelled in a negative way by those who don't understand.

She told the Times-Age her plight was no different to many others struggling to stretch their benefit to meet rent, utility and grocery bills today.

"I just couldn't afford to pay rent. Everything is so expensive ... I had no where else to go," she said.

She lives in a cabin 3.6m long by 2.5m wide. At one end sits her bed with a dresser and boxes of clothing along another wall. A television sits facing her bed.

This fully-insulated cabin is her refuge.

It is powered by a cord connected to her friend's home. Lyn pays $70 to rent the cabin and $120 to her friend for power and food.

She has no cooking facilities and no toilet or plumbing.

The hardest thing was not having her independence, Lyn said.

"It's very hard. I like my own space but I don't like not having a shower or toilet. I'd much rather be in a house but there is no way my money will stretch to rent as well as power and food."

It's upsetting at times, she said.

"It gets really depressing. There are a lot of times I just don't cope mentally. I think it would be easier if I could live in my own place. I'm too reliant on people living this way."

But it's a way of life many were turning to, Just Cabins owner Philip Sutherland said. He estimates about 100 cabins or caravans in Wairarapa are homes for people.

He said in the past caravans were popular, but fully insulated and "roomier" cabins were becoming the choice today.

Young people returning home to parents to "save money" after flatting, and older people, were commonly plonking cabins on back yards as an alternative to living alone.

They were an ideal alternative to a flat, Mr Sutherland said.

"They are a good living space. Larger than the average bedroom ... they are insulated well above building codes."