Breathlessly waiting

Maurice Freeth had borer in his house. Photo / Doug Sherring

An Auckland man with chronic lung disease has been waiting eight months for a suitable home.

Former language teacher Maurice Freeth, 55, has been battling the Housing New Zealand Corporation since last June after he was forced to shift from the rented apartment he had lived in for a decade.

Freeth, who lives on his own, refused eight properties offered to him before he finally accepted a two-bedroom house in Three Kings last week. None of the previous homes was suitable because he suffers from a number of permanent medical conditions including emphysema, which affect his breathing, he says.

Freeth claims the final straw came when a recent house he was offered in Mt Albert was infested with borer and the walls, doors and floors were full of holes.

He also believes the property used to be occupied by a P user and thinks it should be tested to see if it is safe to live in.

Freeth, who gets about $320 a week in benefits, says other housing he was shown in Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Western Springs and Pt Chevalier had been either too cramped or was no use because of his health issues.

Freeth has been living in a crowded boarding house in Sandringham while waiting for a new home.

"I would love to be out there working and contributing," he says. "But that isn't going to happen if I am forced to live somewhere that is detrimental to my health and wellbeing."

He says he is now delighted to have collected the keys for his new place in Three Kings.

Angela Pearce of Housing New Zealand, says contractors had advised that the presence of borer holes did not necessarily mean the property had live borer; the holes did not affect the structural integrity of the property.

She considered all the properties offered Mr Freeth were suitable.