Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt is upset that a good deed he did for a homeless woman has come back to haunt him.
Christina Te Au said yesterday that she was upset that the Bluff house Mr Shadbolt had allowed her to live in rent-free was a hovel.
Mr Shadbolt said he told Ms Te Au when he offered the house that it would need a lot of repairs, but if she was willing to do it up then she could live there forever rent-free. "I said it would probably be hopeless."
Ms Te Au said she was not aware the house would need major repairs before she moved in.
The only hint she had of its rundown state was Mr Shadbolt's remark: "There are no keys, so just climb in through a window."
The house had been vacant for two years.
Mr Shadbolt and Chloe Reeves, the Wainuiomata woman whose tiger slippers earned her national fame via a Gary McCormick television show, bought the house in November 1994 as part of a publicity stunt by the mayor to sell homes in the port town.
At the time, Mr Shadbolt said he would live at the house at weekends.
The wooden villa has two lights that work, one in the hallway, the other in a bedroom.
Forget about a shower - except for the leaking wash-house roof - as the only other running water comes from a rusty kitchen tap.
A coal range is in the kitchen but it has no hotplates, so Ms Te Au has had to use an electric frying pan to cook.
An electrician's quote put the cost of all electrical repairs at $1200.
Mr Shadbolt said he helped Ms Te Au because she said she was the niece of the late George Te Au, who was his friend. "It hurts because you do your best for people. We [the council] are not set up with a social welfare agency."
He was the "spiritual landlord" of the Bann St house, as a company - 135 Properties - owned it.
However, Mr Shadbolt said he had paid for $350 of electrical repairs before Ms Te Au moved in.
Ms Te Au said she had tried since last week to contact Mr Shadbolt about her concerns, but he had failed to reply to her messages.
Mr Shadbolt said he had been to Bluff about six times to see Ms Te Au, but he could not find her.
Ms Te Au said she first met Mr Shadbolt when she went to ask for money out of the mayoral fund.
She needed money to buy a cellphone, a requirement of Child, Youth and Family if she was allowed a visit from her 11-year-old daughter, Lynley, who was under the agency's care.
Mr Shadbolt could not give Ms Te Au money for the cellphone, but he paid for her to stay the night in a motel because she said she had nowhere to stay. He also arranged a two-week stay at his friends' house.
Ms Te Au said she still supported Mr Shadbolt. She just wanted the house repaired.
Mr Shadbolt said other people had stayed one or two nights at the house and had appreciated it.
- NZPA
Shadbolt's good deed ruined
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