Elderly widow digs in against housing chiefs

Iris Chambers

One of 82-year-old Iris Chambers' few pleasures is to sit at the front of her Pt Chevalier home and speak to passers-by on the street.

But Housing New Zealand, her landlord, has different ideas.

The state corporation is "looking at the possibility" of shifting the widow while it moves her home to the rear of the property. It plans to build a new house at the front.

Mrs Chambers, plagued by a heart condition and arthritis, is refusing to move.

She accepts that Housing New Zealand needs to build houses and says it has always been good to her but she cannot submit to its proposal.

"Just imagine it. I'm dumped at the back there. I've got nobody there. There's only me and the dog. I've got nobody to talk to.

"But before that happens they want to take me down to that other house and dump me there. Once I go down there they would say I was better off. That would be the finish.

"Why do I want to shift twice? Why push me out the back?"

Mrs Chambers says the first she knew about the plan was when workmen turned up late last year and poked around on her front lawn.

Mrs Chambers, whose father died before she was born and whose mother died when she was about 14, has lived in the house for about 20 years.

The childless woman moved in with her brother. He died suddenly after about a week in the house.

Now Mrs Chambers feels pressured and ill. "It's worrying me sick ... Pt Chevalier is a lovely area. I know everybody around here ... It's a shame you cannot live in peace."

A Housing New Zealand spokesman said the corporation was looking into options at Premier Ave to provide more homes for needy people.

At the end of last year 2273 people were on the waiting list for central Auckland and 108 were of a high priority.

The spokesman said planning for Mrs Chambers' house was still in its early stages and no application had yet been made for any consents for the work.

"If the redevelopment goes ahead it is not expected that any work will start for about six months."

In the meantime the corporation aimed to work with Mrs Chambers to reach a suitable solution.