Inquiry coming

Fasi Mateai, 14 months, is one of the residents at Kotuku Lodge. Photo / Janna Dixon

An inquiry into boarding houses is being launched amid promises of fresh building and health inspections.

The moves come after the Herald on Sunday exposed the squalid conditions in a collection of disused hospital buildings in Mangere that have been converted into boarding houses.

Children were living with their mothers in tiny rooms that had exposed light fittings and sewage overflowing from toilets. There were broken windows, mounds of empty alcohol bottles and filthy kitchens with damaged fittings.

The boarding houses are privately owned and even small rooms will command rents of $150 a week.

Parliament's social services committee chairwoman Katrina Shanks, a Government MP, said the inquiry would be announced within a month.

She said it would likely involve visits to the boarding houses by committee MPs to see the conditions in which people were living. There would also be a public call for evidence to the committee.

Labour MP Moana Mackey - who is also on the committee - said it was critical to visit the boarding houses. "When you see it you never forget it and you know something has to change." Mackey credited the newspaper investigation for the inquiry being finalised as committee discussions had dragged on for two years.

Auckland Council admitted that the lodge highlighted in last week's story - Kotuku Lodge - had not been inspected by the Supercity until the newspaper started asking questions.

Council inspectors returned to the boarding house this week, but a spokeswoman refused to disclose their findings.

In a statement, licence and compliance manager Carole Todd said the boarding houses should be checked at least twice a year by building and health inspectors. Todd said typical complaints focused on lack of cleanliness and overcrowding.