Donna Love, pictured with four of her seven children Deena, 11, Journey, 4, Taitoa 23 months and Atarangi Love, 5, having finally found a home. Photo / George Novak
Donna Love, pictured with four of her seven children Deena, 11, Journey, 4, Taitoa 23 months and Atarangi Love, 5, having finally found a home. Photo / George Novak
A mother of seven who was homeless and living in a tent with her young family has finally found a home after a 17-month search.
Donna Love moved into a five-bedroom Kainga Ora rental with her children last week . The move came after more than 600 unsuccessful applications to find private rental accommodation in Tauranga.
From the spacious brick and tile home in suburban Tauranga, Love told the Bay of Plenty Times she was relieved and grateful to have some stability at last.
"It's just like, finally! Somewhere where we can settle."
Love said her children, aged from nearly two to 14 years old, "love having their own rooms".
"They are happy as. I'm just happy we've settled and have some stability, not having to panic any more."
In October 2018, Love and her family moved to Tauranga from Levin to be closer to family but couldn't find anywhere to live. Countless applications went unanswered or were unsuccessful.
The Ministry of Social Development placed Love on Tauranga's housing register with high priority but could not offer them a home. Love and her children moved into a tent in her mum's backyard.
Last year, Tauranga and the Western Bay's public housing waiting list increased by almost 150 per cent since September 2017. Then, there were 178 people on the housing registry. By September 2019, it was 430 people.
The list of people in public housing waiting to transfer to a more suitable house had grown from 26 to 35 in the same period.
Donna Love and her children finally have a home after 17 months of searching. Donna is pictured with her children (from left) Deena, 11, Journey, 4, Atarangi, 5 and Taitoa Love 23 months (foreground).
After "a couple of nights" Love called the ministry again, saying she was desperate. She also did not want to get her mother in trouble with her landlord.
Love resigned herself to sleeping with her children in her car that night but reached out to Te Tuinga Whanau Support Services Trust.
With help from the ministry, the transitional housing provider found her a temporary home that afternoon.
Love has since applied for 10 homes a week as part of her agreement with Te Tuinga Whanau but was unsuccessful every time.
"The only thing I can think of was that I have seven kids. My references are great; income is no issue. It's pretty much the kids."
Love said the struggle used to bother her, but she has since learned to brush it off.
"You've got to stay positive. And patience. I've learned a lot of patience in the past year or so."
Love said she was immensely grateful to now have a more permanent solution with Kāinga Ora, formerly Housing New Zealand.
She plans to start working once her youngest is old enough to start school. She would then begin saving for a deposit to buy her own home.
"Te Tuinga Whanau were really good. The support from them has been massive as. I'm so thankful to them; they really made a difference. I'm so grateful to them. I'm going to miss them when I go off their books because they've done what they needed to do."
Te Tuinga Whanau executive director Tommy Wilson said Love's success "shows what we do matters".
Te Tuinga Whanau executive director Tommy Wilson. Photo / File
"What Donna wanted and got gives hope to others. Donna has been with us for a long time. She's been a model tenant and she knows if you strive to be a better person, good things start happening to you."
A Kāinga Ora spokesman would not comment specifically on Love's case but said it only had about 200 houses in the Tauranga district.
When asked if 17 months to find a house was acceptable, or even typical now, the spokesman refused to answer, citing privacy reasons.
Tauranga area manager Sharlene Karena-Newman said Kāinga Ora was happy to have helped Love's family into a tenancy that would meet their needs for some time.
"We're looking forward to building a good relationship with the family as our tenants."
Public housing in New Zealand is covered by several groups.
The Ministry of Social Development looks after the public or social housing register. The Housing and Urban Development Ministry determines public, including transitional, housing policy.
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand's largest provider of public (state) housing.
In Tauranga, however, the majority of the public houses - some 1200 homes - were sold to housing provider Accessible Properties by the previous Government.
