Family facing eviction from state house 'inherited' after mother dies

Lisa Maana holds Santana while other family members demonstrate. Picture / Martin Sykes

A family who "inherited" their mother's state house after she died recently will be evicted by police if they haven't moved out by tomorrow, Housing New Zealand says.

Kopu Maana died last month and her 19-year-old daughter Olivia Maana wants to continue living in the state house in Panmure.

Housing New Zealand said last night that the family had been sent a notice warning them they had to leave by Friday.

"Our hope is they will leave before then ... but if not the police will be involved," Housing New Zealand spokeswoman Kathryn O'Sullivan said.

The house had three bedrooms and Olivia was eligible for a two-bedroom house, she said.

"We have families on the waiting list who need three bedrooms."

Olivia had been offered another house but had declined to take it.

The house is currently occupied by Olivia, her 14-month-old son Santana and her 13-year-old cousin Jordan.

However, the family told the Herald last night they had a meeting with Housing New Zealand today and were hopeful they would be able to stay.

Lisa Maana, the niece of Kopu Maana, said the house had been occupied by the family for 32 years.

"Housing New Zealand sent us an eviction letter saying we had to be out by Friday. We were emotionally distraught when we got the letter and we were still grieving for Aunty."

She said the family was emotionally connected to the house and did not want to move.

The family had organised a petition and the community had been supportive, she said.

Housing Minister Chris Carter said the illegal occupation of state houses would not be tolerated.

"I want to state two very clear principles:

"One, anyone illegally occupying a state house will be removed. Two, the children of tenants do not have an automatic right to inherit state houses," he said.

"State houses are owned by the taxpayer. The adult family of deceased tenants have no more rights to those houses than any other taxpayer. State houses are allocated according to need, and there is a long queue of very needy people waiting for them."

Anyone illegally occupying a state house would be removed and all people requiring state house would be assessed using the same criteria, Mr Carter said.

"There will be no exceptions."