Residents of Loafers Lodge are struggling to piece their lives back together as they come to grips with losing everything in Tuesday morning’s blaze.
Many have places in short-term accommodation but they did not know how long they would be there - or what the next step would be.
One of the former residents is Hemi Lewis who had lived at Loafers Lodge for four months and has been placed in a room at the Cambridge Hotel after the fire.
He was desperate for a new bank card so he could pay for his medication.
Lewis lost everything and suffered from many health problems including breathing difficulties.
His doctor was worried that, since the fire, he has been even more unwell.
“She actually wanted to put me in a hospital ‘cos of my lungs. They have been damaged by this fire and it’s going to be an ongoing thing that I’m going to take out of it,” Lewis said.
He had to wait an extra day until he would be able to get money from the bank, so he still could not contact his whānau in Australia.
Workers in PPE are picking up debris from the scene at the Loafers Lodge fire in Wellington on Tuesday afternoon. Photo / George Heard
And the stress of it all was taking a massive toll on his mental health.
“I have nightmares. I’m alone, I have nothing, it’s in a small box, it feels like a coffin, reminds me of a prison, I have none of my stuff and I’m living in a foreign place,” Lewis said.
Meanwhile, Miimetua Cameron was feeling lucky in her current living situation, even though it was only for a couple of weeks.
Her workplace, Taylor Preston, had found temporary accommodation for her and her partner, and two co-workers.
She was grateful for the support she had been given.
Miimetua Cameron lived at Loafers Lodge for three years. Photo / RNZ
“From WINZ, a food grant and a clothing grant and other warm clothes and blankets and pillows. It was very helpful because we would have had nothing.
“I think we’re lucky - we’re lucky to be alive,” Cameron said.
She planned to go back to work today. Her next step would be to move into more temporary accommodation, but she had no idea where or what that would be.
And from there she would look for a home to rent - but the fire had made that process harder.
“We’ve lost all our paperwork and everything that we need to get another place, so I guess we’ll have to start there first. Birth certificates and everything else.
Loafers Lodge Ltd director Gregory Mein. Photo / George Heard
“The only thing I have on me is my driver’s licence, so it should be alright,” Cameron said.
African Communities vice-chairman Nigussie Geda Fenja helped transport residents to their temporary accommodation.
He wanted more emotional support for those who were still traumatised from the fire.
“Don’t forget these people they need support every single day. Somebody go there for one hour or half an hour to two hours. That is what I’m feeling might be missing,” Geda Fenja said.
“Who is going to check it , which agency is taking somehow responsibility?”
Wellington City Council said it was working with several government agencies to make sure the survivors of the Loafers Lodge fire would get the right housing and help they needed.
The council said this would include providing for both mental and physical health needs.
