Te Puni Kōkiri under fire from Whangārei couple living in run down home

Sheryl and Paora Glassie love their Punaruku home but say it urgently needs fixing, especially amid Sheryl's health struggles. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A dialysis patient and her husband living in a cold, mouldy home with no running water say iwi slammed the door on them despite having a housing fund to help.

Punaruku couple Sheryl and Paora Glassie have spent five years struggling to get any one of their three applications for the Te Puni Kōkiri’s Māori Housing Network Community repairs grant accepted.

The grant aims to reduce the number of whānau Māori living in unsafe or substandard housing nationwide, as well as build the capability of whānau homeowners to repair and maintain their homes.

Applications are prioritised on a range of factors that include if vulnerable people, such as children, are affected.

The Glassies situation has concerned Te Puni Kōkiri, and its regional director for Te Tai Tokerau, Te Rōpu Poa, said they would contact the whānau directly to discuss their applications.

The couple has watched as their neighbour’s less wearied home is improved by the same grant they claimed to be outcast from.

Sheryl said she was happy for her neighbour but that didn’t stop her from wanting to cry. They don’t understand why their home remains untouched despite initially applying years earlier than next door.

“It pours in here when it’s raining, we have to put buckets everywhere ... and it’s cold,” Sheryl said.

The home, which they share with their three mokopuna aged 3, 4 and 6, has no running water. The toilet is a long drop located closer to the bush line. The ceiling insulation installed by Healthy Homes had since gone mouldy.

Paora said the building needed major structural work as the house had started to bow. Windows are inside out and don’t open.

Sheryl and Paora Glassie inside their Punaruku home in desperate need of repairs. Photo / Michael Cunningham

For a while, they lived in a separate cabin on the property and just used the house for cooking. However, when Sheryl started daily dialysis treatments at home they had to move inside to where the only power supply is.

Whangārei Hospital staff expressed concern about their home and provided a shipping container to house her medical supplies, as well as a generator to counter the constant power cuts.

Poa said it was inappropriate for Te Puni Kōkiri to discuss the couple’s specific situation because they did not have a full understanding of what has taken place.

Despite all the problems, the Glassies love their home. Paora’s father built it more than 80 years ago. That and the fact Paora stopped working as a teacher to take care of Sheryl is why the repairs grant is so important to them.

Paora worried that the funding was being run on a “pick and choose” system rather than fairly.

“It’s not that we want a handout ... I think for myself as a beneficiary of Ngātiwai, we are entitled to apply for funding to get assistance and that’s what the programme has been designed for.”

Te Poari o Ngātiwai raukura CEO Simon Mitchell said the iwi does not receive any funding for housing support.

Te Puni Kōkiri funds different rōpū [groups/organisations], such as Ki A Ora Ngātiwai in the Glassie’s case, to help coordinate and prioritise repairs in local communities. Ki A Ora Ngātiwai delivers primary health, whānau ora and public health services across the boundaries of Ngātiwai.

Poa acknowledged some whānau were frustrated with delays to repairs but the issue was being exacerbated by recent extreme weather events and the rising costs of delivering housing support.

“Demand for housing support that Te Puni Kōkiri funds across Te Tai Tokerau has significantly exceeded the amount of putea [money] Te Puni Kōkiri has available to invest.”

Poa said applications that are unable to be funded in the short term are reprioritised and reconsidered for future investment.

“Te Puni Kōkiri is committed to enabling thriving whānau. Recognising that when whānau are thriving so do their communities, hapū, iwi and all of Aotearoa.

“Here in Te Tai Tokerau, we will do all we can to achieve that.”

Mitchell said Ngātiwai has voiced “significant concerns with the major housing disparities and struggles” its people face.

“We have told Te Puni Kōkiri and its contractors that we do not accept this reality for our whānau, and we will work directly with our whānau to manage the resources allocated to our rohe to ensure our whānau in need are being serviced.”

Karina Cooper is deputy news director and covers breaking and general news for the Advocate. She also has a special interest in investigating what is behind the headlines and getting to the heart of a story.