Room to move - and money to spend

Jason and Jean Areaiiti with sons Justus, 8, Khan, 10 and Neccrom, 15, in their new house, built with help from Habitat for Humanity volunteers. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The Areaiiti family of Clendon started this month in a garage. At the end of next week they will be living in a new home and with an extra $55 a week in the pocket.

Jason and Jean Areaiiti and their three sons, aged 8 to 15, lived in a one-room garage for four years until they built their own three-bedroom house this month in the Manukau suburb, with the help of nearly 700 volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.

They are also one of the low-waged families who will gain the most from a $1.1 billion family package that takes effect next Friday.

For the Areaiitis, the extra $55 a week will mean the chance to buy healthy food and all the medicines prescribed by the doctor, not just some of them.

"At present we are just making ends meet. We sacrifice the food expenses," Mrs Areaiiti said.

"We just go for the economy quick meals like stir-fries and have a mince in with that."

Going to the doctor "has to wait for payday". The last time one of the children needed treatment for sores, Mrs Areaiiti had to ask for just two of the prescribed ointments because she could not afford all of them.

The family moved into Jason's parents' garage four years ago to help his parents as well as themselves.

"I got into a bit of a financial problem," says Mr Areaiiti, 34, a house painter who is training part-time to be a Baptist pastor or youth worker. "So we moved back to Mum's. It was more affordable, and we were helping them financially and they were helping us."

They started off living in his parents' house, but then his sister brought her family back from the Cook Islands. Fifteen people in one house proved too much.

"It was like a railway station, so we thought, we'll do the garage up and we'll have our own privacy," says Mr Areaiiti.

It worked - up to a point. The garage had no dividers, so 15-year-old Neccrom and his brothers, Khan, 10, and Justus, 8, shared the open space with their parents.

"You were in everyone's face all the time," Neccrom says.

Mr Areaiiti has been working only two or three days a week due to his studies, but plans to put in more hours now to pay the rent.

Mrs Areaiiti drives a taxi 40 hours a week but brings home only $350. She starts early so she can be home when the boys finish school.