Susy Katipanepia and son Hanlen, 2, who received assistance for his severe asthma from children's charity Variety. Photo / Greg Bowker
Susy Katipanepia and son Hanlen, 2, who received assistance for his severe asthma from children's charity Variety. Photo / Greg Bowker
This winter, children's charity Variety is facing unprecedented demand for warm clothes, dry shoes and beds from New Zealand families in hardship. Isaac Davison spoke to families seeking help about how they got into hardship, what they need - and how Kiwi families can help.
To donate go to href="https://www.variety.org.nz/donate/winter/" target="_blank">www.variety.org.nz/winter
For families in hardship, the difference between coping and not coping can be a single household appliance.
John and Susy Katipanepia, from Parau on the outskirts of West Auckland, have been through a few cold, mouldy houses. Their son Hanlen, 2, has severe asthma and eczema which is worsened by damp conditions.
"With his asthma … he would wake up, cough cough, then spew," John says.
"It's continuous. That's why we have a 9.5kg washing machine, for the blankets. And it's been that way from birth, basically. It just carried on and on."
John, 46, shows a video on his mobile phone taken one morning at 5am, in which Hanlen has vomited all over himself and his leopard-print pyjamas in his bed. He looks confused and exhausted.
Two year old Hanlen Katipanepia at the shared rented property in Parau, Auckland. Photo / Greg Bowker
The family initially asked Work and Income (Winz) for help but had an application for special assistance declined. The case manager referred them to children's charity Variety, which approved a grant for a dehumidifier.
John and Susy moved their bedroom into the smallest room in the house, which made it easier to heat, and left the new device on all night.
"He's gone from waking four or five times a night to just once," Susy, 35, says.
"We still battle asthma, but it's not as bad. It has improved greatly."
Variety says it shows how basic items can vastly improve a family's life. These one-off, large purchases are often beyond the reach of families on the poverty line or the working poor.
The charity has hundreds of families on a waiting list for other essential items like warm clothes and bedding, and is making its first ever nationwide appeal this week for donations.
The dehumidifier and air purifier cost the Katipanepia family nearly $800.
John says that in good weeks, the family has $80 to $120 to spend - though that usually gets swallowed up by medical bills.
Despite Hanlen's improved condition, he goes to the GP once a week. The visits are free, but the medicine is not. He uses a ventalin inhaler frequently, takes preventative medicine twice a day, and requires special creams and specialised foods for the eczema.
John works two part-time jobs, gardening and relocating rental cars and motorhomes, which earn him around $100 a week. He is on the disability benefit because of an injured ankle.
He used to be on the road full-time, a job he loved because he could occasionally drive luxury cars like a Mercedes-Benz. "Beautiful C220s and A180s," he says. But the relocation work meant he rarely saw his young son and his wife, who suffers from two chronic conditions.
Susy cares for Hanlen full-time and is studying te reo Māori in her spare time (she is Tainui).
The family gets $700 a week from Work and Income, which includes Working for Families, disability benefits for both parents, the accommodation supplement and the winter energy payment.
They share their home with extended family and pay $325 in rent. They pay about $90 a week for power and $120 for food, and are paying off a bank loan. In winter, power bills can rise to $120 a week.
"One week we struggle," John says. "The next we make ends meet."
The welfare system does not incentivise beneficiaries to work more, he says.
They have put aside $20 a week for Hanlen since he was born, but have had to dip into his savings occasionally.
Hardship is familiar to them. John grew up in an extended family of 19 children in Waiuku, cared for by his grandparents. His grandfather died aged 55 from poisoning related to dangerous work at an aluminium smelter.
Asked about his dreams, John simply says he wants to stay in the same house as long as possible. He has vague plans about being a published writer.
His ambitions for Hanlen, however, are a little bigger.
"He's so flexible, I want him to do ballet. That's my dream for him.
"But I think he wants to be an All Black. And there's only one position for him - centre."
By 2022, every rental property in New Zealand will have to be dry and kept warm – around 16C to 18C.
That is the latest deadline given to landlords to upgrade their properties to minimum standards which will be introduced next year.
The standards were introduced partly to reduce the number of hospitalisations from conditions related to cold and damp housing – around 40,000 a year. Around 1600 people, mostly elderly, die prematurely from cold, damp homes and an inability to heat them.
Landlords whose properties have no insulation are already required to upgrade their properties by the middle of next year, as a result of changes made by the previous government.
When the Labour-led Government came into power, it wanted broader and stricter minimum standards for rentals, and passed laws in November to bring them in.
It sets minimum standards not only for insulation but heating, ventilation and drainage, which will be introduced in a year and phased in over the following four years.
The changes are expected to cost landlords between $3000 and $5000 if they have to put in insulation and heat pump from scratch. They will be assisted by government grants worth up to $2000.
