'You trust Housing NZ': Upset mother claims her state home had holes in its walls

An Auckland mum has accused Housing NZ of providing unhealthy homes, saying she was given a state house with rotting timber and holes in its walls.

Olga Caske says she has a doctor's letter and report by an independent builder as proof her Glen Eden home isn't fit to live in.

Housing NZ denies the home is not up to standard, saying it also tried to offer Caske a brand new house in Waterview, but she was unhappy because it was not close enough to a bus route taking students to west Auckland's Hare Krishna School.

Caske agrees she wants to be close to her son's bus route, but says Auckland's biggest landlord also needs to provide healthy homes.

She and her son have now developed health problems since moving into the Glen Eden property and are forced to avoid using one of the bedrooms because of the cold and damp, she said.

"You trust a landlord like Housing NZ," she said.

"We believed that we would get a wonderful house and move on with our lives and be healthy and happy."

"They shouldn't have let the house in that condition."

Auckland mum Ogla Caske says her Glen Eden state home was given to her with holes in its walls. Housing NZ denies this, saying the home was up to standard. Photo/Supplied

Despite having been told she will be moved into another home, with thousands on the state housing wait list, Caske has been given no date for when.

She faces the prospect of rejoining the 3278 people either on Auckland's public housing waiting list or waiting to be transferred to a new property.

It is a shortage likely to remain acute in the coming years despite last week's Budget pledge by the Labour-led Government to build about 800 new state homes in Auckland each year for the next four years.

Housing NZ area manager Rebecca Mahoney said her team would continue to work with Caske "to make sure she has housing that meets her needs".

While accepting there had been "some problems with exterior cladding" on the home, Mahoney said "this has been temporarily fixed, pending a more permanent solution" and the property was "sound".

"All Housing New Zealand properties are of a lettable standard when tenants move in," she said.

"We wanted to offer Ms Caske a brand new house in Waterview but Ms Caske has very specific needs.

"She wants to be on the private bus route for her son's Hare Krishna school, a school that is some distance out of the city."

For her part, Caske said she only noticed rot in the exterior walls and broken guttering in the home when she began cleaning and moving into it in January.

She had earlier been delighted to be given the house after being forced to live in a car with her 11-year-old son following a traumatic personal experience.

Now she is again worried about the future of her family.

"By the time they find us a new place, I don't know what is going to happen to our health," she said.

"And who is going to answer for it – nobody."