Community comes to rescue of stressed mum and her family

Ashley Wharehinga and her 2-year-old daughter Raiha Wharehinga-Rahurahu have been sharing a room with a 9-year-old for the past two months. Photo/file

Rotorua mother Ashley Wharehinga has been crying tears of joy since a member of the public read about her homeless plight and offered her and her family a place to live.

Stressed about being "technically homeless" for the past two months, she told her story to the Rotorua Daily Post.

By yesterday morning, hours after her story was published, she was crying tears of happiness and feeling "completely overwhelmed" after being offered their own home.

The 26-year-old, her nearly 2-year-old daughter Raiha Wharehinga-Rahurahu and her parents were forced to leave their rental house on January 25 after the owners put it on the market.

Wharehinga and Raiha moved in with her extended family and her parents moved in with her sister. They had hoped it would be a short-term arrangement but two months later they were still struggling to find a house.

Wharehinga had applied for more than 30 houses and went to about 10 viewings but was rejected each time, despite her father having a full-time wage and her being on a sole parent benefit.

She said the issue had never been about money, they could support themselves and had money to do so, but Rotorua's rental crisis meant there weren't enough places for everyone needing homes.

Yesterday morning Rotorua man Sean Gage contacted the Rotorua Daily Post on behalf of a Rotorua landlord who wanted to offer the family a two-bedroom unit that would be available in about two weeks. The unit, close to the central city, would have new carpet, new lino and a new bathroom.

Gage said the landlord was happy not to advertise the unit and offer it to Wharehinga and her family.

When the Rotorua Daily Post told Wharehinga the news, she started to cry.

"Oh, tears of happiness, tears of happiness," she said.

"It's so generous of them. If something comes available earlier then he said that that was fine but he will keep it open for us. Obviously we are going to take what we can get and we really appreciate the offer."

Wharehinga said she got "heaps of support" from the public when she went to the shop to buy the newspaper.

A fruit and vegetable shop owner gave her fruit after recognising her from the front page.

Another person contacted the Rotorua Daily Post offering to give Wharehinga money towards moving costs.

However, Wharehinga said although the offers had been incredible and generous, she didn't want to come across as a charity case as her pride meant a lot to her. She said it had been hard to admit they were "technically homeless".

She said the issue was more that Rotorua had a housing crisis and there needed to be more homes available for rent.

She said finally the family had a bright future to look forward to and her extended family were happy knowing they would have their house back within a few weeks, if not earlier.

Homeless relief
- Ashley Wharehinga's family are forced to move from their rental home on January 25 because it is being sold
- The family spends more than two months living with extended family, including three people in one room
- Tuesday they share their story with the Rotorua Daily Post about being homeless
- The same day they are offered a two-bedroom unit, as well as donations.